Visiting Classic & Vintage aircraft welcome in Ireland
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has revised their rules about classic & vintage aircraft visiting Ireland (see here) on a Permit to Fly. While amateur built/homebuilt aircraft registered in any European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) member state have been welcome to visit Ireland without any additional airworthiness paperwork for some time now, classic & vintage aircraft were not. Pilots of classic & vintage aircraft registered in countries other than the UK and France, had to submit copies of their aircraft’s paperwork to the IAA and receive a permission to fly in Ireland. This took a few days and cost €75 and there was still no guarantee that the weather would be suitable for them to make the trip.
This welcome change came about as a result of an ECAC recommendation on the mutual acceptance of airworthiness certificates of certain historic aircraft. As such, pilots of such aircraft registered in Ireland should see changes in the rules of other countries allowing them to fly all through Europe without the additional administrative burden or fees. ECAC hope that this recommendation will contribute to sustaining the historical knowledge of the classic & vintage aircraft, which is of great interest to many across Europe.
The change concerns aircraft that were factory built, designed before 1 Jan 1955 and their production ended before 1 Jan 1975. Previously, they would have held a Certificate of Airworthiness, but now they operate on a Permit to Fly scheme. It doesn’t include aircraft above 5,700kg or ex-military aircraft like the Supermarine Spitfire. The conditions of the permission are listed in Aeronautical Notice A.19.
The ECAC recommendation came as a result of representation made by The European Federation of Light, Experimental and Vintage Aircraft of which the Irish Light Aviation Society (ILAS) is a member. It followed a similar recommendation made in 1980 regarding the recognition of airworthiness documentation for amateur built/homebuilt aircraft registered in ECAC member states.
About the Author
Mark Dwyer Mark is an airline pilot by profession flying the Boeing 737 for a major European airline. In addition he is also a Type Rating Instructor on the B737. Outside of commercial flying Mark enjoys flying light aircraft from the smallest 3 Axis microlights up to heavier singles. He also instructs on them including tailwheel differences training and is a UK CAA Examiner. He also flies the Chipmunk for the Irish Historic Flight Foundation (IHFF). Mark became the Chairman of the National Microlight Association of Ireland (NMAI) in 2013 and has overseen a massive growth in the organisation. In this role he has worked at local and national levels. In 2015, Mark won ‘Upcoming Aviation Professional Award’ at the Aviation Industry Awards sponsored by the IAA. Mark launched this website back in 2002 while always managing the website, he has also been Editor and Deputy Editor of FlyingInIreland Magazine from 2005 to 2015.
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