Published at December, 06 2022
Updated on February, 04 2025
Aerial work with a foreign-registered aircraft
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Aerial work operations excluded from the scope of European regulations (exclusion criteria listed below) and carried out in France with foreign-registered aircraft are subject to obtaining a certificate of complete file or a special and temporary authorisation.
In accordance with article L6211-1 of the Transport Code and circular no. 2005-15 of 9 February 2005, the operator must obtain:
- a certificate of complete file, to carry out aerial work operations with aircraft registered in a ‘Community or assimilated’ State (States of the European Union or Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland) or,
- a special temporary authorisation to carry out aerial work operations with aircraft registered in a ‘non-Community or assimilated’ State
Exclusion criteria of the European regulation
In order for aerial work operations to be excluded from EU regulations, one of the following three criteria must be met:
- either the aircraft corresponds to one of the aircraft mentioned in Annex I of the basic Regulation (EU) No 2018/1139,
- the activity is listed in Article 2(3)(a) of the above-mentioned basic Regulation or in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 ("AirOPS"), or
- the operator's principal place of business is in a non-EASA Member State.
Operational rules for these operations
The operational rules applicable to these aerial work operations in France and the documents to be obtained to carry out these operations differ depending on the registration of the aircraft and the operator's principal place of business. The table below sets out the different cases and their requirements:
Case | Registration of the aircraft | Operator | Operational rules | Certificate / Authorisation |
AI | EU or assimilated and excluded from European regulations | Based in France | Arrêté du 24 juillet 1991 relatif aux conditions d'utilisation des aéronefs civils en aviation générale | Certificate of complete file |
AII | EU or assimilated and excluded from European regulations | EASA Member State operator | Operator's country regulation | Certificate of complete file |
AIII | EU or assimilated | Non-EASA Member State operator | Arrêté du 24 juillet 1991 relatif aux conditions d'utilisation des aéronefs civils en aviation générale | Certificate of complete file |
BI | Non EU or assimilated and excluded from European regulations | Based in France | Arrêté du 24 juillet 1991 relatif aux conditions d'utilisation des aéronefs civils en aviation générale | Special and temporary authorisation |
BII | Non EU or assimilated and excluded from European regulations | EASA Member State operator | Operator's country regulation | Special and temporary authorisation |
BIII | Non EU or assimilated | Non-EASA Member State operator | Arrêté du 24 juillet 1991 relatif aux conditions d'utilisation des aéronefs civils en aviation générale | Special and temporary authorisation |
Application for authorisation
The application for the certificate or authorisation required for these operations must be made at least 30 days before the desired start of the operations by the operator using the form available online.
The first part of the form is used to determine the type of operation envisaged and the second part is used to submit the application with the associated supporting documents. The list of documents to be provided for each case is available in the following document:
The application is then processed and exchanges between the authority and the operator take place via the METEOR interface. To use this platform, the operator must create a personal account, which may be set up by the authority on the basis of the e-mail address entered on the form.
Depending on your situation, you may need the following documents to submit your application :
See as well
- Airworthiness: ecologie.gouv.fr/aeronefs-etrangers
- Foreign pilot's licence: ecologie.gouv.fr/titres-aeronautiques-etranger