"Joseph Brown" wrote in message
...

I then searched the A/C registration database on landings.com, entered its
tail number: N-40899 and I found that the A/C is registred in the states,
BUT it's owners and operations are based in Greece! How can that be? Does
this mean that this aircraft is under FAA rules and jurisdictions? What
are
the advantages/disadvantages for a foreign owner to do this?

Yes, this is possible and happens all the time.

For starters, if the pilot has only a U.S. pilot license then he can fly an
N-registered airplane in any country without needing to get another pilot
license.

This also means the airplane could be re-imported to the U.S. and sold to
the large U.S. market without having to go through the cumbersome process to
re-earn a U.S. certificate of airworthiness.

The plane does need to be continued to be maintained and flown under U.S.
regulations, which could be a plus or a minus depending on the jurisdiction
involved.


Would the opposite be true? To register an aircraft in Greece,
permenantly
import it to the states and have it flying with an SX-123456 greek tail
number, for example?

This could be done but it would probably be harder to get Greece-approved
maintenance done in the U.S. than vice versa. And realize that the holder
of only a U.S. pilot license could not be PIC in such an airplane.

On the other hand, if the airplane had modfications not under a
U.S.-approved STC, a lot of paperwork and inspections could be required to
regain a U.S. N number, or perhaps the airplane were of a type never
certified in the U.S.


--
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com