Flying N Reg on JAA License

[Classic]

Can anyone confirm whether it is legal to fly an N reg SEP in the UK for private use with just a JAA license, ie without having an FAA license.

Ta

[IO540]

Yes, VFR.

You can't go abroad. For that you need an FAA license (standalone or piggyback).

As for night flying.... do you want to start another thread?? :O

In the UK, night flight is IFR*. The FARs require an N-reg flown IFR to be flown by an "instrument rated" pilot. I have emails from the CAA and from the FAA stating that the UK IMC Rating is OK for IFR in the UK (in an N-reg) but it's possible that a plain UK PPL cannot do night flight in an N-reg - even if he has a Night Rating / Night Qual. However, it could be argued that FAR 61.3(a) permits you to use a foreign licence including its full privileges when flying in outside the USA.

*SVFR excepted, not very useful though!

[Whopity]

You could of course argue that below 3000 ft and 150 kts clear of cloud and in sight of the surface, there are no instrument flight rules!

Night flight must be flown in accordance with the IFR but the flight must still be conducted in VMC if the pilot is not instrument qualified.

If you applied the rule that you can't fly at night on a JAA licence because its IFR, then you could not fly at night on a FAA licence either!

Common sense says if you are night qualified you can fly at night in the UK.

[dublinpilot]

Common sense says

The trouble is that common sense and law often have little to do with one another ;)

[Classic]

Thanks for the replies. I guess the reference to delve into is FAR 61.3 (a), which may or may not clarify things.

As an aside, is it just aviation or are other industries as just as complicatedly administered? I've been at this game for quite a while now and sometimes I despair at the bureaucratic meddling we have to suffer.

[IO540]

Whopity

I am no lawyer but your post makes little sense. In the UK a plain PPL can fly IFR provided the conditions meet the PPL VMC privileges i.e. 3000m vis, clear of cloud etc. This is why a UK/JAA PPL can fly in the UK at night, even though night flight here is normally IFR.

In the USA, it's different. The FAA PPL automatically includes night flight rights (except, optionally, in Alaska I think) and it's allowed because over there night flight can be done under VFR.

Classic

Yes it's horrid. But it keeps Pprune etc in business :O

Most of it is unenforceable, which is why these debates run and run (because nobody really knows what happens in practice).

The reality is that provided you depart and arrive ostensibly VFR, you (as a plain PPL) could fly in thick cloud all over Europe and nobody will bat an eyelid. (So long as you don't get killed, iced up, your nav is perfect, etc). Not suggesting anybody actually does this, but ....