I'm playing devils advocate but for those who currently have FAA IR's only, if there was no cost (or at least minimal cost a la JAR to FAA route), would you all (a) readily do the JAR / EASA IR without issue and (b) convert registration to G from N? If the answer is yes, is the biggest hassle factor in this the cost of converting, the time or the ground school / exams? I suppose what I'm asking in a round about sort of way is, do the benefits of having an aircraft on an N reg with the added hassle and hardship of constantly thinking what are EASA going to do to get rid of us next, outweigh the negatives of having the aircraft on a G reg and paying for annual IR renewals etc. - and more to the point, what are the comparable costs?
Finally, does anyone think there is any realistic chance that EASA may entertain the idea of a more staggered approach to these changes and propose genuine grandfathering of FAA IR's with a new line in the sand from say, 2014 / 2015 for their new proposals?
I've sat on the fence with which route to an IR for the last year and this issue just seems to get no nearer a certain conclusion - Europe in turmoil, huge backlash at Eurocrats etc. etc. - so I'm still no nearer knowing which way to jump and quite frankly, this looks like it could run on and on for years and years?