Importing a Glider from Canada to US

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 1:16:51 PM UTC-5, GeneReinecke wrote:
Looking at a couple of used gliders in my price range across the border in Canada. Does anybody have recent experience importing and re-registering a Canadian glider in the US? Logistics, cost, time, etc.
Thanks in advance
Gene

Take care, went to Toronto (from FL)to buy an ASW-15 some years ago. Owner told me it was pristine, never damaged, etc., etc., etc.. He never wanted me to review the logbook and when I did, I didn't really find any discrepancies that would throw up the red flags. Upon inspection of the ship, I noticed some very small pinholes in the gel coat on the leading edge of the vertical fin. The owner then explained that the aft fuselage from the trailing edge of the wings to the top of the vertical fin had been refinished by a local Corvette repair shop. No certified logbook entry by an AME (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) for the refinish. Ended my inspection. His mistake, I hold an A&P certificate and AME "R" (rotary wing)certificate from Canada. Just my opine.

I have very recent experience.
Among the normal things (log books, all maintenance and repair records with proper approvals), make absolutely sure you have a good Certificate of Export.

Talk to a Designated Airworthiness Representative for your area before you
make the purchase. (DARs are listed on the FAA website ):

https://www.faa.gov/other_visit/avia...RDirectory.pdf

Good luck! With a little precaution it could be a great transaction.

Agree. About four years ago our club bought a glider in Canada. Our member who picked it up believed the pleasant Canadian who said, "Oh, you don't really need an Export Certificate of Airwothiness." Bad mistake. He spent the next six weeks disassembling & reassembling it under the watchful eye of an FAA inspector who was kind and friendly but thorough.

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 11:16:51 AM UTC-7, GeneReinecke wrote:
Looking at a couple of used gliders in my price range across the border in Canada. Does anybody have recent experience importing and re-registering a Canadian glider in the US? Logistics, cost, time, etc.
Thanks in advance
Gene

OK, thanks for all the suggestions. So nice to get information from the community without any flames, bickering, characters called into question . . .
Cheers
Gene

One more little tid-bit concerning importing a Canadian glider. The gentleman we sent to pick up the ship had a prior misunderstanding concerning the possession of a controlled substance and the Canadians wouldn't let him in the country! The seller had to meet him at the border, shove the trailer across the border, load the ship and hand shove it back across the border whereupon he departed South, glider in tow, waving a fond farewell to the Canadian authorities with his social finger.
:) JJ

On Friday, February 27, 2015 at 11:54:11 AM UTC-6, JJ Sinclair wrote:
One more little tid-bit concerning importing a Canadian glider. The gentleman we sent to pick up the ship had a prior misunderstanding concerning the possession of a controlled substance and the Canadians wouldn't let him in the country! The seller had to meet him at the border, shove the trailer across the border, load the ship and hand shove it back across the border whereupon he departed South, glider in tow, waving a fond farewell to the Canadian authorities with his social finger.
:) JJ

The Canadians also don't take kindly to those who've had DUI convictions. Here is some info:

http://www.himsprogram.com/Content/H...adianEntry.pdf

I spent an hour and a half trying to get into Canada with a box of vintage sailplane association Tshirts. Apparently they were very worried that I was going to set up a black market T-shirt shop while I was there.

Getting the glider into the US was easy from my perspective but my customer had hired an import agent to dot the i's and cross t's. I handed them a pile of paperwork. I ran through the xray thing the semis go through to check for illegal aliens and they had a look in the front of the trailer and I was back in the USA

The trailer offers potentially more difficulty at the border crossing than the glider. Buy the trailer with a separate bill of sale, leave the Canadian tag on it, and take the Canadian Title with you. You will have to mail the Canadian tag back to the owner so they can turn it in, and use the bill of sale and Canadian title to get you a US title for the trailer. For payment you can buy a draft from a Canadian bank in Canadian$ from your US bank. The airplane stuff is pretty straight forward as others have described.

SF