Originally Posted by
Jonzarno
Yes Mike, but whilst I agree entirely with all you say about the legality of the flight: the state of registration of the aircraft has no bearing whatever on what went wrong.
There are hundreds of UK based N reg aircraft operating quite safely and legally, equally I am quite sure that a good share of the illegal grey charter market is flown in G reg aircraft.
It’s the activity that needs to be stopped and you won’t stop it by forcing pilots to re-register all N reg aircraft.
Perhaps the question about why private aircraft operators choose the N reg option should be addressed to Grant Shapps? There is clearly a problem with the paperwork and over legislation in the UK.
I have a friend who has over 9000 hours and has been an instructor in Vancouver for many years. However at the age of 67 and wanting to return to the UK where he was born and work part time as a flying instructor he finds the financial barrier of around £8k to get an instructor rating not worth the return.
So he finds it more rewarding to fly back to Canada for a couple of months and instruct on floats and wheels while we lose his skills .
Who on earth would spend £8k for an instructor rating in the UK when the return on capital is abysmal?