Are there countries with far less restrictive flying regulations? Places where owner maintenance is unrestricted? Places where any pilot is encouraged to hang out his shingle?

In the United States, you're free to construct whatever aircraft you desire and can maintain it nearly any way you want. that's pretty unrestrictive.

Canada is pretty cool with “rolling your own”

What do you mean by "any pilot is encouraged to hang out his shingle"?

Bagarre wrote:In the United States, you're free to construct whatever aircraft you desire and can maintain it nearly any way you want. that's pretty unrestrictive.

Yes that’s true but I also want to fly that airplane and I may want to fly with some passengers and I might want to fly for pay I don’t think I can do that in the United States with Airplane that I have built and maintained myself. Heck I don’t even think I can do that with an airplane that somebody else mostly built and I simply did some maintenance on.

Goldinthecreek wrote:

Bagarre wrote:In the United States, you're free to construct whatever aircraft you desire and can maintain it nearly any way you want. that's pretty unrestrictive.

Yes that’s true but I also want to fly that airplane and I may want to fly with some passengers and I might want to fly for pay I don’t think I can do that in the United States with Airplane that I have built and maintained myself. Heck I don’t even think I can do that with an airplane that somebody else mostly built and I simply did some maintenance on.

I dont think any countries will allow you to fly others commercially without IA sign offs.

I'd imagine you can do whatever you want in many of the failed or failing African countries...anyone remember the Republic of Biafra?

Bribes are as common as breathing, fuel is astoundingly expensive and of poor quality, and spare parts are nonexistent... and your life expectancy is about that of a unwatered flower...but if you really want to get away from rules and regulations, that's a good region to start looking.

North America is really the last bastion of Joe Sixpack being able to hop in an airplane that he bought with the wages he made as a plumber and go fly, damn near wherever he wants, for the cost of gas and oil. If that's not free enough, then aviation is not for you...least not at this time, on this planet.

Goldinthecreek wrote:

Bagarre wrote:In the United States, you're free to construct whatever aircraft you desire and can maintain it nearly any way you want. that's pretty unrestrictive.

Yes that’s true but I also want to fly that airplane and I may want to fly with some passengers and I might want to fly for pay I don’t think I can do that in the United States with Airplane that I have built and maintained myself. Heck I don’t even think I can do that with an airplane that somebody else mostly built and I simply did some maintenance on.

You can do everything except that last thing. No commercial operations in home built airplanes.
Which is still pretty damned unrestrictive.

Hammer wrote:I'd imagine you can do whatever you want in many of the failed or failing African countries...anyone remember the Republic of Biafra?

Bribes are as common as breathing, fuel is astoundingly expensive and of poor quality, and spare parts are nonexistent... and your life expectancy is about that of a unwatered flower...but if you really want to get away from rules and regulations, that's a good region to start looking.

North America is really the last bastion of Joe Sixpack being able to hop in an airplane that he bought with the wages he made as a plumber and go fly, damn near wherever he wants, for the cost of gas and oil. If that's not free enough, then aviation is not for you...least not at this time, on this planet.

Yep, what he ^^ said. Man, talk to pilots from other countries! They’ll all tell you how jealous they are of our aviation freedoms in the US.

But, here’s a question for you: Would you want to fly in, or put your loved ones aboard, an airplane that was built and/or maintained by a guy who just “Hung his shingle out”, and who you know nothing about?

The regulations in the US can seem overwhelming, but a lot of them were written in blood.
Maybe you should look into dirt bikes....

MTV

I'm pretty "OK" with the rules as they apply to commercial aviation in Canada and the ones for GA flying are reasonable in my estimation. So a hat off to the RAA, EAA, COPA & AOPA and a multitude of grassroots organizations for their efforts in protecting the GA realm

Hammer wrote: I'd imagine you can do whatever you want in many of the failed or failing African countries...anyone remember the Republic of Biafra? Bribes are as common as breathing, fuel is astoundingly expensive and of poor quality, and spare parts are nonexistent... and your life expectancy is about that of a unwatered flower...but if you really want to get away from rules and regulations, that's a good region to start looking.....

I had exactly the same thought about "anything goes" 3rd world countries when I read the original post.

ALASKA

This man lives free.

Can I legally fly a Cessna after I take a bunch of useless old radios out of the Panel and toss them out the door? Can I even flying it after putting a pop rivet tin can patch over the hole in the side? Let’s not even get started talking about swapping out an engine for another one that will fit exactly in the same place but has one letter different in the designater.
You guys bragging about the freedom we have in this country remind me of the missionaries in two different cannibal pots.
The one looks of the other and says yes but the boiling water in this one isn’t as hot!

Goldinthecreek wrote:Can I legally fly a Cessna after I take a bunch of useless old radios out of the Panel and toss them out the door? Can I even flying it after putting a pop rivet tin can patch over the hole in the side? Let’s not even get started talking about swapping out an engine for another one that will fit exactly in the same place but has one letter different in the designater.
You guys bragging about the freedom we have in this country remind me of the missionaries in two different cannibal pots.
The one looks of the other and says yes but the boiling water in this one isn’t as hot!

Good question. Can he even flying it after putting a pop rivet tin can patch over the hole in the side?

Goldinthecreek wrote:Can I legally fly a Cessna after I take a bunch of useless old radios out of the Panel and toss them out the door? Can I even flying it after putting a pop rivet tin can patch over the hole in the side? Let’s not even get started talking about swapping out an engine for another one that will fit exactly in the same place but has one letter different in the designater.
You guys bragging about the freedom we have in this country remind me of the missionaries in two different cannibal pots.
The one looks of the other and says yes but the boiling water in this one isn’t as hot!

Yes you can remove radios and fly.
You could pop rivet a patch over a hole in the side, but the skin is structural and it's probably not recommended unless you want run that risk. But then why not just build your own.
One letter in the designation can be a considerable difference on an engine. Some aren't, but lots are.
All in all we have reasonable freedoms and freedom to fly a lot of beautiful country.

Goldinthecreek wrote:Can I legally fly a Cessna after I take a bunch of useless old radios out of the Panel and toss them out the door? Can I even flying it after putting a pop rivet tin can patch over the hole in the side? Let’s not even get started talking about swapping out an engine for another one that will fit exactly in the same place but has one letter different in the designater.
You guys bragging about the freedom we have in this country remind me of the missionaries in two different cannibal pots.
The one looks of the other and says yes but the boiling water in this one isn’t as hot!

Sir...if you're this wound up without even owning a airplane or being a pilot (?) yet, aviation is simply not for you. I'm the biggest proponent of common sense in the face of regulation I've ever met, but if you cannot conform to the regulations, you will not be happy as an aviator. You're a hundred years too late for barnstorming, so come to terms with the aviation regulations of 2019 or do yourself a HUGE favor and pick a different hobby.

Like MTV said, many of the burdensome regulations were written in the blood of innocents. They were sitting behind pilots who weren't up to snuff, or in airplanes that were maintained with good old common sense...which turned out to just be old and common, but not sensical, and certainly not airworthy. I for one am GLAD that being a charter pilot/carrier is as heavily regulated as it is. The LAST thing I want is someone who just decided to become a pilot a year ago hanging out a shingle and advertising they will fly me or my family to X-Y-Z for cash.

Frankly, those burdensome regulations were written to protect my family from you, though I don't believe you mean anyone harm. Most pilots who killed their passengers didn't mean them any harm, but it's a poor consolation to the survivors. If you want to fly for hire then do it, but don't try to short-cut it. That you seem to want to fly for hire without going through the very reasonable steps required to become a commercial pilot, flying a legal aircraft, leads me to believe you probably wouldn't make the cut anyway. I don't mean that as an insult...not being a charter pilot is hardly a character defect...but actually being a charter pilot, who takes other people into the air for compensation, is a hell of a lot more than you understand right now.

Good luck.

Actually Goldinthecreek it just so happends that anyone is welcome to work on their “own” airplane but you are required to have a qualified person inspect, sign off on the work and thereafter return it to service”. So if you have a friend or know someone who will extend you that curtesy get out your tin snips, holster up yer pop rivet gun and have at er dude.

I’m going to put on some popcorn for the upcoming show.

I'm still waiting to find out what hanging out my shingle means. Is it even legal in most states?