Occasionally we receive calls from pilots planning to move to a foreign country who want to take their aircraft with them. The question is always "how do I do it". There is no universal answer, as usual, "it depends".

Each country will have regulations that will impact your decision. Basically, you will need to decide if it is better to re-register your aircraft locally and obtain a local license or whether to maintain US registry. Each country has its own rules regarding change of registry and local licensing that range from reasonable to insanely complicated and expensive.

If you decide to keep your aircraft under US registry, their are several questions that you should obtain answers to before making a decision.

> You should consider where you will be able to legally get maintenance for your aircraft. A US registered aircraft will need to obtain service and annual inspections from FAA Approved Repair Stations. There are a number of these in foriegn countries so it is not out of the question. The only downside is that some of these stations know that you do not have many other options and price accordingly.

> Do the local Customs laws place limits on how long an aircraft can stay in a country before being subject to importation and duties? Some countries have limits that are automatically "re-set" when you leave the country and other have a running limit such as "so many days within the last 12 months". The latter poses a much more ominous problem because they would require that the aircraft remain outside of the country for certain periods of time.

> Do the Civil Aviation authorities place limits on how long an aircraft can operate in the country? Again, there are always multiple laws that govern the acivitiy of foreign registered aircraft in a country.

> Do the local civil aviation or local customs laws limit you from flying freely within the country, are you limited to operate ONLY at certain airports?

Sometimes we get questions from pilots who want to ship an unassembled aircraft into a country for assembly and then fly them locally. These scenarios pose even greater challenges because most laws do not consider this option. The laws are written where an aircraft can be IMPORTED (this means hiring a broker, paying duties, paying taxes etc.) and then usually results in being registered locally. Foreign regstered aircraft are expected to be FLOWN into the country via an international airport and obtaining the necessary permits. However, to bring an aircraft into the country by ground to be later flown does not fit either scenario and will likely result in a complex and expensive paperwork nightmare. Obviously, this would be a challenge for roadable airplanes because if you were to fly them into an international airport, you would not receive the permits that an automobile would receive and would therefore be illegally driving on roads and vice cersa. Of course, you could alwasy fly away from the traffic cop, but only for so long.....

It is always best to thoroughly research the laws and regulations of a foreign country to determine the best option for taking your aircraft there. Whether you plan to live there permanently or part-time will greatly impact the best strategy for how to bring in your airplane. What you want to AVOID is to move to a foriegn country without doing the necessary research first and then find out after you have made significant financial and personal commitments that the options available to you are either impractical or too expensive.

Rick Gardner
Caribbean Sky Tours