I have never seen so many bitter and twisted people in one place!
Here? Or have you paid a visit to EASA Headquarters?
Why are many in aviation getting desparate? Not because we are a bunch of twisted bitter old morons who think life has passed them by. But rather because we see our livelyhood and/or passion under a clear and present danger.
Of course the citizens of a land should not be exempt of the laws of that land - even for the golden idol that is aviation!
I hear you. And in principle you are right. Yet, this situation would never have arisen were the laws of the land such that the necessity (and for some of us it is just that) to fly an aircraft under flag of convenience would not exist.
That has long ceased to be the case in Europe. The dynamics of the legislative process within the EU has taken leave of any semblance of democracy. As a citizen, it is the only way to protect one's assets plus one's ambitions and passions by going around the laws rather than simply accept defeat and pack up. Clearly it would be even more honest to take that further and leave the EU. Yet, the question is, should this continue to full extinction or is there a way to stop this fatal trends?
Whereas aviation is concerned, the only way forward that I can see for European aviation is for EASA and the European comission to go back to the drawing board of legislative process and provide us with an air law which makes flying in Europe as attractive and realistic as the laws in most other countries do. EASA needs to move away from over-regulation and oppression towards a service orientated agency which is FOR Aviation and not against it.
In fact, I believe that the only answer to the FAA/EASA gap would be for ICAO to take over the lead in this spirit and lay down the basic laws for all to follow. An ICAO License should be valid all over the world, an ICAO sanctioned certification or STC should be without any hassle accepted in every member state. There should not be any such balant differences between one member state's rules and those of another. Thus, the requirements should be identical for everyone.
Were this so, most N-registered planes would be on European register without any problem whatsoever, licenses would be valid all over the world, so the question of FAA vs EASA would not even arise.
Instead, what I do see is a rift between EASA and the remainder of the world which threatens to isolate Europe from the rest of the aviation community.