ECAC recommendations on home-built (1980) and historical (2016) aircraft
ECAC Recommendation on home-built aircraft - 1980 (INT.S/11-1)
"The Conference recommends that Member States accept home-built aircraft with a certificate of airworthiness or a 'permit to fly' issued by another Member State, to fly in their country without any restrictions other than those stated in the certificate of airworthiness or 'permit to fly'."
Home-built aircraft in ECAC States
Home-built aircraft falling within category (c) of Annex II of Regulation EC 216/2008 are exempted from that Regulation, and are therefore to be handled under national rules.
However, in 1980, ECAC, aiming to facilitate the mutual acceptance of certificates of airworthiness issued by ECAC Member States, adopted the above recommendation.
Since then, from time to time a number of ECAC Directors General have been contacted by representatives of the owners of home-built aircraft and have been informed about the difficulty in clearly identifying the requirements for operating such aircraft in the different ECAC Member States and, more generally, about a lack of uniformity in the implementation of this recommendation.
The Executive Secretary of ECAC was approached recently by the European Federation of Light, Experimental and Vintage Aircraft, asking that ECAC establish the position regarding the implementation of its 1980 recommendation, and any requirements that are imposed by States notwithstanding that recommendation.
Directors General of Civil Aviation of the ECAC Member States concluded that it was reasonable for the European home-built aircraft sector to expect to have straightforward access to information about the basis on which such aircraft may be flown in ECAC Member States. They tasked the ECAC Secretariat with establishing the facts, and with making the relevant information available in some convenient format to the owners of home-built aircraft. The following information is based on data compiled from a questionnaire sent to all ECAC Member States.
However, we strongly advise home-built aircraft owners to contact the Member State before operating such aircraft in the different ECAC States.
The implementation status in ECAC Member States of ECAC Recommendation INT.S/11-1 can be downloaded here.
ECAC Recommendation on historical aircraft - 2016 (ECAC/35-1)
At their Special Plenary Session held in Paris on 18 May 2016 (ECAC/35), ECAC Directors General adopted Recommendation ECAC/35-1 on the mutual acceptance by ECAC Member States of 'permits to fly' for specific types of historical aircraft. The aircraft concerned by this recommendation (approximately 10 000) are usually called 'Factory National Restricted Permit to Fly (FNRP) aircraft'.
They were factory-manufactured, designed before 1 January 1955 and their production ended before 1 January 1975. Previously, they held an ICAO-compliant certificate of airworthiness. Now they operate under national rules as they fall within the scope of Annex II of EU Regulation (EC) 216/2008 (related to aircraft for which EASA does not have competence). The newly adopted recommendation should contribute to sustaining the historical knowledge of the FNRP aircraft, which is of great interest to many across Europe.
