Emir wrote:
Why would customs/immigration issues be part of air law syllabus? Do you learn such stuff when learning how to drive the car?
First, when learning how to drive a car, one learns the laws of the road. When learning to fly a plane, one learns the laws of the air; the Chicago convention on International Civil Aviation is part of that, and the need to land a customs aerodrome is its article 10.
Second, with a car, mostly, things are straightforward. You can take any road that connects two countries, there will be a customs checkpoint at the border, you stop there and declare what you have to declare. If the two countries have some special arrangement, an open border (like the EU), generally people know about that.
With a plane, things are different. You need to land at a customs/immigration aerodrome. I think it is worth telling PPL students that general principle. And (for PPL students of that area or close to it) explain the difference, in the EU/EEE/EFTA sphere, the difference between customs border (e.g. Switzerland and EU) and an immigration (Schengen area) border and the separation between customs airports and immigration airports. One doesn’t necessarily have to go into the details of the various UK GARs, the Swiss procedures, etc but at least a general pointer on how to find the information of what is needed.
In my French PPL, 2007, one of the instructors said ‘we could go to Switzerland’ but it never actually happened. We did do a flight to Pontarlier (4nm from the border) and I vaguely remember a short discussion about the visual approach chart which mentioned douanes/police. 13 years later I still haven’t flown to Switzerland…
I looked at the PPL theory book last night and could only find two mentions: one in the flight plan chapter (necessary for crossing a border), and one in the regulatory framework chapter (Chicago, ICAO, JAA, EASA) which said to look at the AIP or the SIA Guide VFR. You would buy the guide at the same time as the 1:500,000 maps, so a PPL student should have access to it, and all it says about customs and police is to contact them if the pilot wasn’t talking to ATS at the border crossing; I would understand this as ‘no need for customs/immigration as long as you talk to ATS’, which is mostly ok for countries bordering France 
I know the UK Pooleys guide has a few non-UK airfields like Le Touquet, and I think the immigration (GAR) notification periods for Channel Islands, Northern Ireland etc; I can check.
@Capitaine, a flight from Pontarlier to Neuchatel is totally scenic at low altitude above the jura. It is a pure joy with an arrival on the lake!
In Switzerland in 2018, I learned that you need a FPL, and leave/arrive at airport with customs.
Apart from the ‘distance learning’ with theory book that I did, it was mandatory to also have 6 days of ‘in class’ training, and there they tried to give some practical information as well. Especially that a FPL was not the right way to request customs (even when adding a “Request customs” comment), as there was the recent case of some Swiss person doing that wrong, and getting to pay import tax in Germany.
But learning about the Chicago treaty, how the swiss CAA (BAZL) is embedded in the government, what insurance is needed, and to not do commercial things got more attention.
The immigration/customs point of entry rules was only mentioned in my PPL book with a few sentences and that was it. Because I had colleagues flying in Switzerland, I heard from them the main issues of crossing a non-EU border during my flight training. My FI also didn’t know about different rules in different countries, he just learned me to fly in Germany. He even couldn’t help me with filing a FPL, as this is almost never necessary inside Germany.
My first flight as a licensed pilot brought me into the Netherlands and I was honestly a bit lost the first time, as the Dutch have a bit different kind of procedures at controlled aerodromes. I really missed some education about international flights during my flight training, but I was at least a bit ‘proud’ of myself to handle and learn this on my own with help from pilot friends and the internet.
Merci @ploucandco, I’ve added Neuchatel to the list (the link didn’t work though)
Just looked at the 2019 Pooleys
The ‘Customs and Excise’ section is clear about immigration (GAR form) and customs (none) to/from the EU. However, Republic of Ireland, N Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel Islands has text pasted from the Terrorism Act 2000 which is unclear and discouraging. The link to the Border Force website is much better.
At the back there’s a ‘Continental Section’ with visual approach charts for Calais, Cherbourg, Dinard, Granville, La Rochelle, Lelystad, Le Touquet, Ostend, Pontoise, along with a brief summary of differences between the UK and France/Benelux e.g. national requirements for night VFR, flight plans, transponders etc. This I like because it’s aspirational: it sows the seed of ‘let’s go to Le Touquet’
Customs/immigration etc, you are either lucky and get taught it in the PPL, or you have to learn it yourself later. But I agree with Frans: you’re definitely proud afterwards
