Importing a DG 505 Elan Orion

On Friday, February 17, 2017 at 10:15:06 AM UTC-7, Michael Opitz wrote:
At 15:25 17 February 2017, Dan Marotta wrote:
Just a comment on Mike O.'s information: Though the Mexican
Export C of
A for my Stemme was not acceptable for a US Standard
Airworthiness
Certificate, there does exist a German Export C of A for that ship
and I
made that available to the DAR. I believe that was the basis for
my US
Standard Certification and the DAR's inspection was to verify
that the
ship conformed to /_that_/ C of A. Of course, I've
misunderstood things
before...

On 2/16/2017 8:25 PM, Michael Opitz wrote:
At 01:39 17 February 2017, Duster wrote:
Bill,
Mssrs Optiz and Marotta's experience will guide you well.
Don't
underestim=
ate the guidance the local FSDO might provide to you if you
contact the
FAA=
first, instead of using them only to troubleshoot. They're not
supposed
to=
be obstructionists. That 505 looks like a great ship; good
luck
with it.

https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certifi...ertification/a
ir
craft_r=
egistry/import_aircraft/

https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/pic-
archive/aircraft-
ownership/bus=
iness-justification/importing-and-exporting-
aircraft#importing

There is a critical item missing from the AOPA web site. They
refer
to a bi-lateral airworthiness agreement between the USA and
the
other country, and list a bunch of countries, where South
Africa is
included. The problem is that those agreements are only for
aircraft manufactured in either of the two signing countries.
(USA
and S.A. in this case) In the DG-505 case, the glider was not
manufactured in S.A., so what you are really looking for is a
3rd
country manufacture bi-lateral agreement which does NOT
exist
between the USA and S.A. That means that the USA FAA will
NOT
recognize an Export C of A for a glider imported from S.A. but
manufactured somewhere else.

Also, if you search the FAA TCDS listings, there is no TCDS for
the
DG 505 Orion ELAN (only for the DG-500). So, without a 3rd
country bi-lateral agreement and a USA TCDS, the glider will
have to
be registered in the Experimental category once you get it
here. If
there were a valid TCDS (which I somehow missed), and
lacking a
3rd country import bi-lateral agreement, you could then still
get a
USA Standard airworthiness by going Dan's route in hiring a
DAR
and going through a very expensive conformity inspection.

See the table in appendix 4 on page 63 of the pdf file. Look at
the
fourth column from the right for 3rd country manufacture bi-
lateral
agreements with the USA FAA:


https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/...ory_circular/a
c21
-23b.pdf

Here is a note which I found in the Import Requirements
section of
the FAA DG-500 TCDS:

"Gliders manufactured in Slovenia under jurisdiction of the
Slovenian Directorate of Civil Aviation are not within the scope
of the
current agreement or past agreements and therefore are not
eligible
for a U.S. standard airworthiness certificate."

RO


--
Dan, 5J


The FAA and thus the DAR are only concerned with the existence
of a TCDS, and should one exist, confirming that the aircraft
conforms with the specifications stipulated by it. A foreign
Export C of A is useless unless there is a bilateral TCDS to go by.
RO

The DG500/505 production and TCDS is all a bit messy in my opinion. TCDS G08OE shows the seven DG500/505's built by Elan and AMS who were erroneously issued standard type certificates. There are some changes on the bilateral agreements under EASA since this glider was built, but it's been outside of EASA oversight, so confirming EASA compliance will be tricky and/or expensive and the Slovenian export CofA won't be conforming., so this import will most assuredly be as experimental. An SA export CofA might not be worth much apart from filling a square, nor will the original export CofA from Slovenia. Clearance letter from South Africa registry will be required. Separate bills of sale for glider and trailer.

So, reserve an N-number now.
Clear customs with glider and trailer (must have DOT compliance plate, see DOT HS-7 form). Trailer issues can keep you in port for days to weeks and you pay the storage.
Get a condition inspection.
Get a DAR with initial glider AW authorization (not your regular DAR) to do the initial airworthiness and operating limitations IAW FAA Order 8103.2H Section 10 and other paragraghs (searh air racing). File your program letter with your local FSDO. Fly off Phase 1 and 2 and log results.

Maybe ask SZ, he's done a lot of imports.