Within the GA community it is usual for N reg aircraft to be owned by an off shore trust to meet the FAA requirements. There is no doubt under trust law the trustees are the owner of the aircraft
Agreed
Also it is usual under the terms of the trust agreement for the trustees to authorise certain pilots to operate the aircraft, but I am interested whether this constitutes "operational control".
I believe it does. That's exactly what trust agreements do. They retain legal ownership within the trust and a 3rd party (ie. the trust beneficiary) operates the aircraft.
The operator (in this case the trustees) may (and often do) lay down a whole series of requirements which must be met before a pilot can operate their aircraft; moreover these requirements will and do change. I dont entirely follow the fact that the pilot decides the destination of the aircraft in itself constitutes "operational control".
In this sentence, replace the trustees with the insurers. They also lay down all sorts of requirements which can change. Does that mean the insurers are the operator? Of course not.
If ever tested in Court could the Court so simply conclude the requirements of the trustees were a "sham" when clearly the trustees (as owners of the aircraft) are legally entitled to enforce their SOPs and ban a pilot from flying the aircraft at any point in time
It's not about the requirements of the trustees or showing them to be a "sham". It's about who exercises practical, day-to-day operational control of the aircraft (within the bounds permitted by the owner and insurers etc).
After all where ever the pilot may or may not decide to go is irrelevant if he has not complied with the operational requirments of the trustees
Of course it's relevant, if the normal understanding of what constitutes operational control is deciding where and when the aircraft flies, again, within the constraints that may be imposed by the owner and insurers.
brgds
421C