On Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 11:18:13 PM UTC+2, wrote:
Many thanks. This is very good news.


Unfortunately, it's not as good as you might hope. Though the US does have AW reciprocity with South America, there are still a lot of other regulatory hoops to jump through.

My suggestion would be to buy the glider through an agent in the European country where you intend to fly, and let them deal with the paperwork.

Thanks, Bob K.

Thanks for the advice, Bob, but I am not ready to take a 200,000 USD leap of faith.

I do appreciate your comments on "hoops." It's never as simple as it seems even when it's in black and white.

The problem in Europe is you simply cannot register an aircraft that is not type certified by EASA and for some reason -- perhaps political, perhaps technical -- this is taking a long time.

There are JS1s flying in Europe under South African colors and this is perfectly legal under ICAO rules. It does entail some other issues like ownership and licensing of the crew.

There are also so called JS1 M&D Singles flying in Europe under a German Permit to Fly pending EASA certification. The JS1 M&D Single is a JS1. They have just changed the name for certification purposes and this has knock on effects.

The first is that no JS1 will likely ever be retroactively certified in Europe. I can imagine what current owners think about that. The second is the JS1 M&D does not have a SACAA TC. So, you can buy one and fly it legally in any of the 191 signatory states of the Chicago Treaty but you will never be able to register it in Europe. Or you can by the other and hope EASA will certify it before delivery.

The reason for my initial query is to find a way around the regulations, have my cake and eat it too. I am a US citizen, so I can register a glider under N-. I've now eliminated the ownership issues. I don't have to set up a partnership with a South African entity. Unfortunately, I need a Standard CoA to benefit from the provisions of the ICAO treaty on overflight. Signatory countries can and usually do require that pilots aircraft with special CoAs get special permission to overfly their territory.

Agreed! It's the long way around and in the end the simplest thing to do is just wait for certification and enjoy my ASW-27 to the fullest in the mean time.

I thought I'd give you all the details since you were very helpful in providing the link to the US-SA bilateral.

Regards,

Rian