On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:55:41 -0800, Andy wrote:

On Jan 14, 12:48Â*am, Peter wrote:

I believe that its not possible to export a glider (actually not
possible to obtain an Certificate of Airworthiness for Export from the
USA), for an aircraft that is on the experimental register. The FAA
will only issue them for standard airworthiness compliant aircraft.


That seems strange. The glider entered USA without any US airworthiness
certification but it cannot leave?

No, you have the wrong end of the stick.

The glider entered the USA with a German Certificate of Airworthiness for
Export, this was supplied by the manufacturer as part of its export
process (without which I doubt it would even get on the US experimental
register) and was subsequently registered in the USA with an experimental
Airworthiness (since at the time of import there was no TCDS and no way
to get onto the Standard register.


Is it not possible, for example, to send a German manufactured glider
with a US experimental certificate, back to Germany for repairs?

Of course, its possible to ship it to Germany or most other places for
repair/holidays/any number of reasons, but it cannot be PERMANENTLY
exported with an FAA Certificate of Airworthiness or Export unless it is
transitioned from an FAA Standard Category Airworthiness Certificate.
You might be able to keep it on the US register in the other country and
have a US qualified Inspector give it the required annuals etc, but thats
likely to be costly and insurance may be a problem, but most countries
are likely to require a long term aircraft transition to the local
register eventually.


Is this a US export restriction, or a UK import restriction?

Both I believe.
US export, the FAA will only grant the Export CofA if they can be assured
the aircraft is 'safe' when it leaves the USA, ie. has a current Standard
Category CofA at the time export is applied for.
UK import, the aircraft must be documented properly in order for it to be
accepted onto the EASA Airworthiness Register, proper docs include export
CofA from the country its coming from, for similar reasons, it must be
'safe' which means Export CofA.


Can the glider just be de-registered in US and re-registered or re-
certified in UK based on the original LBA certification?

I doubt it, there would be a huge paperwork gap that would raise
questions. Even if it could be done, I doubt I'd buy even a used car with
such a document gap.


I'm interested since I may find myself in the same situation one day.

Andy

Good luck with that, I have learned a lot in my research so far and no
doubt have more to learn...

Peter