I have moved to Canada, and I really want to buy a little taildragger to explore Ontario in but it seems the Canadian regs only allow Canadian citizens or permanent residents to register airplanes.I have had a good read through the CARs but cant see any loopholes, perhaps fractional ownership?

Has anyone had any experience of this, I would appreciate any guidance you can give about workarounds etc.. otherwise I think its 2 years renting!!

Hope it works out for you. I tried the same thing several years ago, unable to do so. Perhaps there have been some changes or loopholes which I never discovered. I will be following responses from those in the know.

Maybe a stupid answer .... can’t you just buy one down in the states and fly it up there ?

Can a Canadian company own an airplane? We own our airplane in the US in an LLC, and the ownership of the LLC is somewhat opaque.

Assuming you’re American, bring up an American registered airplane. If you want to buy a Canadian Registered airplane, export it to the US, then bring it back and base it here.

As I understand the regs there’s nothing stopping you from operating a FAA registered airplane in Canada provided it’s on recognized C of A or Flight Permit. As I recall an airplane on a “flight permit” (homebuilt) needs prior approval from Transport Canada and that document might have an “end date”. It could get a bit more challenging, maybe even impossible if it’s registered “experimental”.

You can fly your N registered airplane to Canada and base it here indefinitely. I know a Canadian who does this. Eventually he was coerced into paying the GST on it.

Not sure if you can fly a C registered aircraft without a Canadian certificate. I know transport category stuff works that way.

low rider wrote:Maybe a stupid answer .... can’t you just buy one down in the states and fly it up there ?

I had a place on a lake in BC didn't want hassle of crossing border on straight floats. And....insurance on Canadian registered planes was astronomically cheaper, at least used to be. Not available if US registered.

Odd about the planes as foreigners own tons of land


I’d look into the LLC thing

I've tried to help my uncle import planes (mostly warbirds) from Canada and have run into the scenario where the plane must be flown by a Canadian pilot.
On our last attempt I learned that I could get a Canadian pilot's license by just taking the applicable written (commercial in my case). Seems too easy.

Since I like ferrying planes as a side hustle (more for the fun than the money) I could see having a Canadian license would add greatly to my opportunities.

Thanks for the replies everyone, unfortunately I am not a US citizen either, I am from the UK so owning an N reg and operating in Canada is probably as hard as it would be to figure out ownership of a C reg airplane. As for Canadian licenses I am planning to convert my FAA licenses over to Transport Canada, until then I have a foreign license verification certificate in the works, so I should then be able to rent Canadian airplanes.

If anyone has any experience of LLC ownership in Canada I would love to hear about it, as it seems to be my only option until the Canadians are happy to call me a citizen!!

And if anyone knows of any fractional or group ownership opportunities around Toronto, I would like to hear about those too.