Canards to Canarda?

[TiggerMoth]

Greetings gentlemen and gentlewomen,

 

I'm quite new here, and apologize if this is a repeat on account of my archive searching skills being less than they should.

 

I've decided on a LongEZ for my first and, hopefully, only plane -- once I complete my training...this summer (?)

 

Expecting pickins is slimmer in Canada than the US, I wonder if anyone has brought one in (from the US), and could you point me in the right direction so I may inform myself of all I will need to know about so doing?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Brent

[td_howard]

Hey Brent -

 

I'm a Cozy IV builder in Edmonton, but I have recently begun an active search for a Long-EZ to fly while I complete my project.

 

For sure I would contact David Orr at www.canardfinder.com. He runs a brokerage service for canards, and is an experienced EZ driver with a wealth of knowledge and advice. At any given moment he probably knows of 30-40 planes that are on the market and has personal knowledge of many of them. Most of these will never be seen on barnstormers, ebay or the like.

 

I would also join EAA and/or RAA. They have many articles and fora that could give you advice. EAA Chapter 1410 in High River just had a seminar on this very topic - check out their website at www.eaahighriver.org.

 

www.ez.org has some good articles on buying (or not buying) canard planes - nothing Canda-specific, though.

 

Key thing is to get as much information as possible. You might try contacting other canard drivers in your area. According to the Transport Canada database, there are at least two EZ's in the Calgary vicinity.

 

Best of luck with your search - PM me if you want me to keep you updated with the status of mine.

 

Trevor

Cozy MK IV, #1171, Ch. 19

[TiggerMoth]

Hey Trevor,

 

Thanks so much for your reply here.

 

I've already been in touch with Dave "Beagle" Orr, and he's been, as advertised, a wealth of information. He gave me a couple of links on the topic of dealing with the issue of cross border shopping, and as an alternative, cross border registration via setting up a corporation in Delaware. I couldn't open the links, and suspect it's 'cause I wasn't a member of EAA that I couldn't gain access.

 

So I've joined EAA, in the last 36 hours, and await activation of that sucker, and the access benefits that will bestow upon me.

 

Great suggestion about checking out the discussion from the local-ish forum. I'll do that tonight. I want to get all my ducks (arr, arr, arr) in a row when comes to acquisition time. A smooth process would be awful nice if I can orchestrate it.

 

I hope you'll let me know the ins and outs, if it turns out you bring a plane back from the US.

 

And by all means I'd sure be interested to keep tabs on the status of your build.

 

Well, nice to "meet you" here on this forum.

 

-Brent

[davewilenius]

The November issue of COPA Flight, the monthly COPA publication, included an article on the steps required to import a flying homebuilt aircraft. I believe their is a document on their website with all that information in it. Probably in the members section but I can't remember. Prior to joining COPA I didn't have high expectations but I have found the montly paper to be quite educational and their online resources very useful as well.

 

The basic process is you need to bring it in, pay duty, have it inspected by Transport Canada (with some fee of course) and register it. MD-RA doesn't do import inspections for some reason. You'll also have to figure out how to get it here - if you're a Canadian pilot you'll need a license conversion to fly a US registered plane.

[TiggerMoth]

Dave,

 

Thanks for your reply here.

 

At the moment, I'm not yet a pilot -- I'm about to do my first solo here in the next week or so. Once purchased, I'll have to have someone bring it up, or orchestrate the conversion you mention. (Hopefully it's less of a hassle than the full process of getting a US pilot licence, buy I've got a funny feeling...).

 

I'll go after that issue of COPA.

 

Regards,

 

Brent

[davewilenius]

The conversion process to get a US pilot's license is relatively straight forward and is documented in AC 401, which can be found at

 

http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/IMSdoc/ACs/400/400-001.htm

 

If you can find a seller that is willing to bring it to you so much the better.

[Edge 513]

Guys- The odds of you building a Cozy if you buy a Long eze, are next to zero. Thats been the consensus over the years. I agree it sounds like a cool idea to stay 'current' and fly 'just once a week'...but it takes so darn long to build one of these Cozies that it is human nature to finally give up and just have a great time in the eze. Pick one or the other. Chime in Wayne, and others. But it would be a waste of some good time & dough to try and sink $ in the Cozy IMO. The old literal "bird in the hand, one in the bush"[er, 30% finished for 5 years in the garage] axiom.

[TiggerMoth]

The conversion process to get a US pilot's license is relatively straight forward and is documented in AC 401, which can be found at

 

http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/IMSdoc/ACs/400/400-001.htm

 

If you can find a seller that is willing to bring it to you so much the better.

 

Dave, thanks for this info. This is great. One of the selling points of this aviation plan, to my other half, is the promise it holds to take her on cross-border visits to see family and friends in Dayton! And from Calgary? How about doing that in a c-150! Heheh.

 

Brent