Alien owning N reg aircraft

[winglit]

I am just about to embark on the exciting adventure of becoming a pilot! Although I've been in the aviation game for some 24 years in maintenance.

I am a British licensed aircraft engineer with EASA licenses and also the holder of an FAA A&P. I am an overseas station engineer for a UK charter outfit based in the Dominican Republic. I also live here with my Dad, who is a retired flight engineer with FAA CPL/IR.

The plan is to go to Florida this fall and do the accelerated private pilot course over a month. My Dad will be refreshing his license too.

The next plan is to buy a C172 in the States and bring it down to the DR. We want to keep it on the N reg as we will both have FAA licenses and obviously I can maintain it with my A&P. Although I don't hold AI, we'll probably hop over to Puerto Rico every year for it's annual. But we really want to avoid importing it to the DR and putting it on the Dominican register.

So the question is; how can two Brits legally own and operate this Cessna on the N reg in the Dominican Republic?

[20driver]

It used to be you set up a corporation, often in DE to do this. There a several companies that specialize in this and it was reasonably cheap. Lots of Europeans do this. It lets you exercise the FAA IR privileges in Europe among other benefits. Posting on the private flying forum will get better info particularly, from IO-540 who is pretty knowledgeable about this.

The big, bad news is, the FAA has recently apparently stopped accepting these registrations. There has being a very serious, post 911, tightening of registration compliance in the last few years and this seems to be part of it.

You might look at the AOPA web site to check the latest.

I suggest you proceed with extreme caution.

20driver

[winglit]

Thanks for your input 20driver.

You're right about proceeding with extreme caution, which is why i am doing my due diligence first.

I've tried AOPA, but you need to be a member to get that sort of gen. I don't want to start shelling out on AOPA membership just yet, especially if I can't become an owner!

There must be a way around it. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of N reg aircraft based over the world outside the US. I bet they're not all owned by Americans.

[thornycactus]

There must be a way around it. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of N reg aircraft based over the world outside the US. I bet they're not all owned by Americans.

I've met many N reg aircraft owners in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong. They are not Americans.

It is just like the car ownership in the United States, foreigners have their own.

[Check 6]

The FAA is not denying foreign ownership - that was incorrect information that was out on the interwebs. This was clarified by the FAA at least a month ago.

You must however register the aircraft through a trust. The easiest way to accomplish this is through an aviation attorney. There are many of these specialists in Florida.

[Check 6]

SoCal Approach, you have it correct. The FAA did state clearly that their intent was not to abolish or otherwise hinder this mechanism. The FAA is doing an extensive review of their complete "aircraft registry," including cancelling registrations that do not have valid addresses.

The beneficiary of the trust is the owner. Here is an example of a trust registration. I know these owners and neither are U.S. citizens and they live outside the U.S.

WELLS FARGO BANK NORTHWEST NA TRUSTEE
299 SOUTH MAIN ST 12TH FLOOR
MAC U1228-120
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84111
UNITED STATES