Originally Posted by
Genghis the Engineer
No dispute that there are various caveats and limitations - here's the actual CAA rules.
That's a cockeyed CAA interpretation of European rules. The Aircrew Regulation only applies to personnel involved in the operation of aircraft registered in and controlled by an EASA member state or, when the aircraft operator resides or is established in EU, aircraft registered elsewhere and flown in EU. Except for most aircraft listed in annex I to the Basic EASA Regulation. See article 3 of the Aircrew Regulation and articles 2, 20 and 21 of the Basic EASA Regulation.
The first para on the CAA page states:
If you are the holder of a current and valid licence, rating and medical, you
may exercise the private privileges of your ICAO licence/certificate in UK if
you have declared to us and your licence has been verified directly by the
issuing Authority airspace until you need to convert to a European licence.
The first para in the section "ICAO Declaration for 28 days per calendar year for 3rd country licence holder" states:
This declaration allows the holder to fly for a maximum of 28 days per year. If
you come to the UK every year and wish to fly for pleasure, you will have to
follow this process every year.
These are misleading because no distinction between resident and non-resident aircraft operators is made. The rules covering licence validations, declarations done in lieu of validations, acceptances of class and type ratings, and licence and rating conversions are made in annex III pursuant to article 8 point 1—as an alternative to the requirement made in article 3 point 1 to hold a Part-FCL licence and a Part-MED certificate—in accordance with which member states may accept third-country licences, ratings, certificates, medicals, etc, on the condition that no appropriate BASA–IPL is in force. It was in anticipation of an EU–US BASA–IPL that EASA invited member states to make an article 14 (now article 70) exemption such as UK has done for US airman certificate holders. In any event none of this applies to non-resident operators wishing to fly third-country aircraft.
The last sentence in the ICAO declaration section of the CAA page states:
From April 2019, the applicant's acclimatisation flight must be conducted by a UK examiner.
This conflicts with the implementing rules at point 8(b) in section A of annex III:
... [provided the applicant] has completed at least one acclimatisation flight with a qualified instructor prior to carrying out the specific tasks of limited duration.