how could a French custom's man prove where I am domiciled?
That's true, but it gets better
-
how could a French custom's man prove where the "
operator" is "
resident"?
Yes, indeed, having a non-EU mailing address will throw any casual regulatory enquiry.
To throw the next less casual enquiry you will want the registered owner to be non-EU, which they will be for most N-regs, and which can be arranged for any reg.
Any enforcement will have to involve an examination of journey logs, which are not mandatory on private flights, and which are meaningless anyway for people operating from non-towered locations.
Now, it has taken me 30 secs to type this. If
I can work this out in 30 secs.........
I simply think that nobody is going to bother enforcing this - except maybe the Germans. I can certainly avoid landing in Germany. The infrastructure is just not in place and nobody is going to spend money on it.
Why would they have the "hardest time of all" if FCL.008 doesn't affect them?
FCL008 is something else. The FCL008-IR may offer a route for private IR holders but it will not be any good for commercial pilots,
as far as I can tell. And if it was, you still have to do the JAA CPL which is, I think, 9 or 11 exams.
Those flying e.g. jets on FAA ATPs or CPL/IRs will have to do the whole JAA CPL/IR from scratch; 14 exams, flight training, the lot. There is some credit but not a lot. The FAA type rating will be usable directly but that's about it.