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Old August 8th 09, 01:42 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tim Leslie
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Posts: 4
Default Shipping a Glider from Europe

On Aug 7, 8:30*am, Coucked wrote:
I am considering the purchase of a glider that I would have to ship
from Switzerland to an East Coast port. Can anyone give me some
direction on the best way to accomplish this. The things I'm most
concerned about are; official paperwork, customs, funds transfer and
shipping.


You do not have to acquire the services of a broker, I did it this
past March without one only after reviewing what I would need when
clearing customs. Don't let anyone tell you that a broker is legally
required. It is not. Read the regulations and laws. If you are not
good at meticulously following directions and doing simple paperwork,
then by all means get a broker.

The trailer must be acceptable to Dept of Trans. requirements. If it
is an old trailer (I think 25 years old and greater) you do not need a
letter of conformity from the manufacturer. However, if it is
younger, you must have such a letter to provide DOT and to show
customs. If trailers are registered and tagged in Switzerland, then
get all of that documentation. Make sure you have the serial number
and (if applicable) the registration numger of any tag. There is a
DOT form you must fill out. The customs office will tell you where to
obtain that. Get the trailer papers in order or your ship will
certainly remain at pierside possibly for a long and expensive wait.

Make sure you have an Export Airworthiness Certification done by the
Swiss owner. Without this document, the FAA can require you to have
it type certified when you are doing your airworthiness certification
over here with them. Type certification is an expensive pain and a
step you can avoid if the ship is type certified to begin with and if
you have an export airworthiness certificate. I did not have one done
on my Grob 102. I did get around having to have it certified in
Boston for type by requesting to have it registered experimental. The
experimental registration is an option, some folks don't like to
register it to this certification. I have no problem with it.

Do your FAA registration at least two weeks prior to it being
shipped. If coming over in a trailer, the use of a roll on roll off
type of shipping conveyance will save you tons of money over shipping
alone in a container. If you share the container it can be more
economically feasible but can be a scheduling nightmare to try to get
three gliders shipped at a time, if at all a possibility to begin
with. RO RO is definitely the way to go.

Make sure the measurements you use for shipping quotes and for
shipping costs are exact, as i exact length of trailer, width and
heighth. The current owner will have to supply these measurements to
you if the trailer is not a commercailly available one with exact
specified dimensions referenced somewhere. Rember to include the
measurement of the tongue in overall length. If you measure small,
they will surcharge you and your costs will go up dramatically when
they measure the trailer at the port of origin facility.

You do not have to pay tax on the sailplane or the trailer, no export
or import duty is required, but make sure you don't have to pay a VAT
or such in Switzerland to buy this ship for importing. The US does
not charge tax on sailplanes or trailers.

A lot of research but you can really get a bargain in importing.
Americans have grossly inflated most sailplane values in our current
market. For example, I purchased my Grob 102 with trailer from
Britain, including all shipping and incidental costs, for under 10,200
USD. The ship is in good condition, flies like a dream and required
no work to fly her as is. The declining British Pound had some to do
with this bargain basement purchase, but I think the inflated values
of sailplanes on the american market had more to do with it. Grob
102s (with spar spiggot AD already accomplished by the way) typically
market for between 15 and 20k USD here.

You''ll get a lot of people offering opinions and advice here who have
never imported nor exported. You'll also have a lot here, such as I,
offer advice that worked for them. Your experience will be different
due to whom it is you work with at customs. If you get the run around
so to speak from the clerk at customs, ask for a supervisor. They
have to let you speak with one. Have your paperwork in order and
ready and you'll be in and out like I was in twenty minutes or so if
you are thorough in your preparation.

Good luck and research, research, research. Google this and look for
the checklists of how other people have done this procedure. I highly
recommend a thorough checklist.