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How do you find AD procedures and other handling info ?

10 Posts

Ok, the question sounds a bit silly and I could not find out how to put it better.

This stems from an experience I had in Basel (Bâle-Mulhouse) at the beginning of June on an IR instruction flight.

The story goes like this :

We landed there, switched radio to ground, were marshalled to our spot and… off the marshaller went, leaving us sitting ducks in the middle of the apron.
So I put my nicest HiVis jacket and we walked and tried o get into the terminal.
Somehow we succeeded and reached the info desk where they were surprised and charged me with a shuttle to/from aircraft to which I objected.
After paying and filing a claim, I finally received an email saying I would be refunded for the shuttle but that what I did was extremely dangerous and illegal and that I should have contacted a handling agent or requested a shuttle transfer to the tower.

The thing is… after double and triple checking (SIA charts, Jepp charts and manuals), there is no information whatsoever regarding handling in this airport, nor about said procedure. Even the SIA VAC (i.e. official VFR charts) have no mention of the procedure or even the contact details of a handling agent !

I replied saying as much (If you want us pilots to respect these rules, publish them – and related info – somewhere usable), but the question stayed with me…

If I compare, say, with Bordeaux Merignac, there I have this info on the SIA VAC (not sure about Jepp though)
So, how do you do it ?

Last Edited by PapaPapa at 27 Jul 15:13
ELLX (Luxembourg), Luxembourg

ACUKWIK … www.acukwik.com/

EDLE, Netherlands

As AeroPlus says, but you can also call TWR/GND for info. I have done this a couple of times, notably once at Valencia, where the ‘follow-me’ car guided me to the remotest possible parking spot (literally miles from the GAT) and the marshaller drove off into the distance…. TWR gave me a phone no for the handler…..

IMHO there are so many variations even at a given airport.

I used to subscribe to the ACUKWIK airport directory and probably still have the last book+CD somewhere, but I don’t think it was any better than any other database when it comes to operating details like this.

Normally, light GA tries to avoid handlers and while some airports are set up to prevent this, others aren’t bothered and you can just be left to your own devices. The last fun place I remember was Bergerac at about 7pm last November… pitch black and nobody anywhere near. I doubt that any airport directory will prepare you for that, and it certainly won’t tell you where the hidden button is which opens the door so you can get out and get a taxi

Perhaps the most sure way is to phone the handler before the flight (and arrange handling; that is why, believe it or not, some pilots – PC12s especially – actually ask for handling in the remarks section of their flight plan) or phone the aeroclub. This will work only during the opening hours of the respective outfits (obviously) although a handler – if there is one – is normally open when the airport is open (they want your €€€). Aeroclubs can be a Russian roulette because they often just shut when the wx is sub-VFR, post-daylight, or no students, and IME prob75 nobody there will speak English if outside the UK.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Perhaps the most sure way is to phone the handler before the flight (and arrange handling; that is why, believe it or not, some pilots – PC12s especially – actually ask for handling in the remarks section of their flight plan) or phone the aeroclub.

Peter,

I don’t understand your point. Plenty of aircraft ask for handling because they want it. Maybe as they are travelling on business and handling charges are less important than convenience. Many of us don’t want it but that is fine too.

EGTK Oxford

I wasn’t making a point, other than perhaps that, in general, the more predictability you want, the more you will pay, and that applies to all of life

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

So you are basically telling me that aeronautical information stops when the aircraft is parked ?

I’m not sure why I should bother with airport procedures then… There are already so many things that we have to check that adding this to the list is a bit over the top.

My instructor confessed that he actually thought about Colmar and not Basel and made a mistake giving me the ICAO code.
He also confessed that when using his Cheyenne he does avoid bigger airports because they are always a mess.

Anything to get rid of light GA I guess (expensive fees, impossible hidden procedure not to be published under any circumstances, …)

ELLX (Luxembourg), Luxembourg

So you are basically telling me that aeronautical information stops when the aircraft is parked

That’s a very funny way of putting it, but basically Yes

IMHO, if an airport has gone to the trouble of writing up pages of ground procedures, they may well be enforcing them, especially sometimes. But most don’t bother, so you might get anything.

Also most ground procedures are for the bigger stuff e.g. which taxiways to use for different wing spans.

Handling comes in several forms

  • mandatory, and there is no escape
  • mandatory, with no escape unless you are going to an aeroclub or a based maintenance company (if you are a visitor, this obviously has to be pre-arranged)
  • mandatory, unless you manage to “escape” it
  • optional
  • nonexistent (the case at most GA-only airfields) and you ask the tower after you land where they want you.

As I said above, normally in light GA one tries to escape handling (to save money) but some (very few) pilots do intentionally request it. Also I find that increasingly, where it is available, one cannot escape it, especially as a visitor and not knowing local procedures and “tricks”. For example, years ago, at a certain Class D UK Airport, if you asked for a taxi to Hangar XX, you avoided all handling and security… you just walked straight through, and saved £50.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Not sure that works at Bournemouth anymore….

EGBW / KPRC, United Kingdom

It wasn’t Bournemouth

Let me email you, in case it’s still there.

Bournemouth has been getting hot on the handling bypass tactics. You now have to phone them (they give you a “PPR number”, 4 digits) even if going to a business based there, like I did the other day. However ATC didn’t ask for the number (they did previously, maybe a year ago) so perhaps Handling sends the registrations to the tower? If going to a based business, you don’t pay handling.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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