Last weekend I shot a Beechcraft Sierra passing my home ( Belgium)



I noticed the strange registration. All Belgian planes have a code starting with OO

Now, watching Rottydaddy's shots I see the planes have a N-registration

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=photos;action=display;num=...

Does this mean the Bonanza is registered in the states? If so, how did it end up in Europe?

Cheers,

Omag

                             

I don't know the reason but FAA registered aircraft are becoming quite common in the UK now. In some cases it might be more convenient.

Money Money Money and... Money

And some licensing issues and esthetical stuff

- Why most bizjets have P4 reg... because it's cheaper. Same for N reg, especially when the aircraft does many US - europe hops.
- Why most warbirds have Nxxx reg... because most other countries require BIG reg fonts, which look ugly
- Why An-2 and non-warbird status Yak have RA or some other east european reg... that is because in the US you have a restriction for operating it, and in the UK because getting it on UK register takes loads of paperwork and time. Most of the RA aircraft came from either the RF or the DOSAAF list which is for internal use only.

And the last one: why EX and the 9L ones... because nobody else will arrange the insurance for these. Iraiq Airways has some with 9L reg because they don't have an aviation authority yet and because the neighbours want to see money (Kuwait)
(FYI: EX is Kyrghyzstan and 9L is Sierra Leone)

I know Rotty, I mistyped... Thanks for enlarging my mistake...     

And here I was, thinking there was a rule about the amount of engines required by law to cross the Atlantic...

Thanks for the link Rotty!

I believe ferry flights are still common. I know several owners who picked their new aircraft up at the factory & hired a navigator to help ferry them to Europe. This was back in the 1960s. One chap stopped for a few days at Shoreham before carrying on to Singapore which was his final destination. This was in a brand new Piper Comanche fitted with tip tanks. I had the keys in my pocket the whole weekend in case it needed repicketing. He gave me a ride in it before departing for Singers.

More & more maintenance organisations in the UK & Europe are becoming certified FAA Repair Stations so aircraft can retain their FAA certification with no need for them to return to the US for major servicing. This seems to go against the whole idea of the JAA & FAA being basically the same. Knowing the feelings between them I could never see that working out. As usual it simply makes things more complicated.

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Well, the CAA (ARB as it once was) & FAA have been trying to come up with common standards for as long as I've been in the industry. I thought we might get somewhere when the JAA was formed but they haven't agreed yet so I don't think there's much chance now. In fact they seem to grow further apart. My poor brother is now having to go through it all again since the JAR (Joint Aviation Requirements) approvals have been changed to the new EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) requirements. http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=720&pagetype=90&pageid=3945

And so it goes on. This never-ending bureaucracy is the main reason I & many of my contemporaries took early retirement.

PS. EASA website. http://www.easa.eu.int/home/index.html

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Only ones left in that part of the world are 3C (equatorial guinea) and 9L (Sierra leone). the rest is either cleaned up or banned (like Liberia which is 100% owned by Viktor Bout, a well known arms smuggler)