It isn't quite the same with shipping as ships come under maritime law, not aviation but I do now understand your logic so thanks for explaining it so well and apologies for missing it in earlier posts.
"A ship operates under the laws of its flag state, and these laws are used if the ship is involved in an admiralty case."
.. is this the case with aircraft? Genuine question as I don't know. Maritime law won't apply to aircraft but are there similar \ identical regulations in the aviation industry? That might well be the crux of the case.