Mad Jock and others,
I think we are wrong to look at this only from the perspective of some 70'000 pilots and owners who understandably stand in front of a disaster right now. But there is a lot more to the method behind all this, than "only" to eliminate a loophole which had become necessary due to totally unreasonable requirements on the side of European aviation legislators.
To be totally neutral on this, I would not know how the FAA would have reacted to an influx of European registered airplanes operating from there. I reckon they would not have stood for it either, but the point is mute, as there was never a reason to do so, while European requirements have prompted many pilots to go FAA.
I am NOT one of them, I have my national license which I understand will somehow get converted into an EASA one next April. Yet, I see what EASA does in a wider spectrum.
ICAO is all about standardisation and about mutual reckognition, which is the base of it's raison d' etre. Without this, international air traffic becomes more and more impossible or, as it already is happening now, more and more nationalized. If we see moves like this one, which is a clear step away from ICAO's principle, there will be more to come. BOTH, EASA and the FAA will need to find a common way here, if we are to continue according to the spirit of ICAO. Otherwise, we will find ourselfs in 2 blocks again, not unlike the former East Block and the West. Some of you called it a trade war, yes, in a way it is.
But more than this, particularly in Europe, it is a concentrated effort to strangle free aviation and to force it into a corset eventually eliminating the need for pilots altogehter. We all know that is science fiction born of the sick mindsets of some of aviations worst beancounters, but that is where many things are headed. There are EASA folks around (and others) who believe that basic flight training can be dispensed with and pilots will be trained to do their first ever flight on the flight deck of an fully automated airliner which keeps pilots just to keep the punters from running off, but who are there to observe, not actually to fly. The same folks plus several others in the political scheme of things see aviation as something hostile, something to do away with and wish to do away with freedom altogether, as it only bothers their bureaucratic behinds. One step to do this is to take away the possibility and incentive to travel. THAT, folks, is happening already. Security, 9-11 scares, e.t.c. is not there to "protect" us but to keep us from travelling. Taking away private air travel is one vital step in this direction, back to regulated tarifs with the airlines and state run everything.
Folks, we need to take the future of aviation away from thes charlatans. Keep your eyes open in your daily life, it's everywhere. Overregulation has always been a fond issue in many nation states, who hate freedom and promote strong political leaders with willing vasalls to follow their every word. The EU has moved in this direction ever since it was formed. That is why certain large members of it are now taking matters in their own hands. One up to the French, who won't be bullied. Now it is up to everyone else not to be bullied either.
And our Ameircan friends, keep at it over there. The concept of freedom the American is used to is not a God given gift but it needs to be fought for every single day. If you want to know where you'll end up if you don't, just look at Europe.
best regards
AN2 Driver
(Whose AN2 has long gone the way of all worldly items thanks to the Cologne Gang)