Originally Posted by
Fl1ingfrog
Is it the case that any aircraft and pilot that are based and licenced outside of the EU, in whatever country that may be, must apply for and obtain a 28 day validation before they may enter EU airspace[?]
No. To determine this review para 1 of article 3 in the current consolidated version of the Aircrew Regulation (
link):
Without prejudice to Article 8 of this Regulation, pilots of aircraft referred
to in Article 4(1)(b) and (c) and Article 4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008
shall comply with the technical requirements and administrative procedures laid
down in Annex I and Annex IV to this Regulation.
Annexes I and IV are Part-FCL and Part-MED. Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 was the first Basic EASA Regulation. It was repealed by the current Basic EASA Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 (
link), on 11 Sep 2018. Art 139 paras 1 and 4 of that regulation are:
1. Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 is repealed with effect from 11 September 2018.
...
4. References to the repealed Regulations referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3
shall be construed as references to this Regulation and, where appropriate, read
in accordance with the correlation table in Annex X.
The given mapping is:
art 4(1)(b) ---> art 2(1)(b)(i),
art 4(1)(c) ---> art 2(1)(b)(ii),
art 4(5) ---> art 2(3)(d).
The relevant points in art 2 para 1 are:
This [Basic EASA] Regulation shall apply to:
(b) the [...] operation of aircraft [...] where the aircraft is or will be:
(i) registered in a Member State, unless and to the extent that the Member State
has transferred its responsibilities pursuant to the Chicago Convention to a
third country and the aircraft is operated by a third country aircraft operator;
(ii) registered in a third country and operated by an aircraft operator
established, residing or with a principal place of business in the territory to
which the Treaties apply;
Art 2(3)(d) refers to aircraft listed in Annex I.
Therefore Art 3(1) of the Aircrew Regulation does not require either a Part-FCL licence or a Part-MED certificate to be held by
any pilot involved in the operation of a third-country aircraft whose operator resides or is established in a third country.
See also relevant post here:
Acquiring PPL in Canada or USA