Originally Posted by
Justiciar
Sorry, yes I was aware of the Restricted Type Certificate, which I believe means that you can fit uncertified parts and still use it for training. This could be said to be a step forward in a rather bleak landscape of regulation, but I have not seen any figures as to what the likely annual maintenance costs of an aircraft of a restricted certificate are.
It does make you ask what the EASA rationale is for this if it is not to put clear water betwen "sports" aviation on the one hand and commercial operations on the other. What they appear very uncomfortable with is having a class of aircraft which overlap the two categories of operation. A lot of the root problemis with the categorisation of what is and is not an EASA aircraft.
Basically, I think that the powers at EASA believe that they should be in charge, feel the need to re-invent the wheel - but simply aren't clever or competent enough (or well enough resourced to do so), and they have egos that don't accept that the wheel doesn't need reinventing, nor that some things don't actually need regulating by them.
G