I just did it on arrival.
You may wish to take a lawnmower to Jersey, last time I was there at the end of June the grass in the GA parking was over 50cm deep due to some sort of dispute between the airfield management and the flying club. (Maybe now resolved?)
Well, this time we are going to Guernsey. Well see how it goes.
I have been to Guernsey this summer and need to file a GAR Report in advance, I recognice 12 hours. You will find the form on website: HM Revenue Customs, I have send it via fax. On arrival nobody cares about the fax, you have to file a new one! Really stupid. Guernsey is really nice but be careful when parking your aircraft on apron. There is a construction site in the northeast of the airport and when the wind comes from this direction you will get a lot of sand and dirt on the plane. Thats not funny.
Sebastian was not referring to the UK side of such a flight (he is flying from Germany) but to the CI side and their GAR requirements. Therefore, the (UK-->CI) 12 hour notice period does not apply.
To answer your question Sebastian, I don't think Guernsey has uploaded their GAR form anywhere for you to compile it in advance (like Jersey does, see here). And I would guess it is not a good idea to hand in a complied Jersey GAR form upon arrival at Guernsey...;-)
Call ASG, Guernsey on 01481 263965 and book in with them. Handling free, landing and t/off £15. Fill in the Guernsey Gen Dec when you get there. Even if you e mail them a UK Gen dec they simply ignore it and ask you to fill there's in on arrival. The ASG apron is small but if you book in you'll get good service and generally their area is sheltered from the worst of the blowing dust prevelant just now due to extensive airport works. Apparently, the contractor is ahead of schedule and the works should be finished by October. I've been in three times recently and ASG are very good.
Thanks for the superb info, guys.
I will be flying on Thursday, returning on Sunday. And I already talked to ASG, where I got the exact same info you (STOLman) mentioned. Even cheaper than Jersey.
Flightplans and GAR question
An unusual situation arose yesterday and I am not sure if I handled it correctly or not. Any comments?
A friend has his IMC renewal today and yesterday's flight was to prepare for this, while carrying out a 'real world' trip. I asked him to do the preparation and the paperwork. The plan was to fly IFR from Bourn to Le Touquet to carry out a couple of ILS approaches and land. Then we would fly to Lydd for an ILS and finally home. We would do the general handling work en-route.
He prepared and flightplanned the flight and duly filed the plan to Le Touquet, with Lydd and Connington (his home base) as alternates. He also submitted the GAR in good time. Le Touquet was notammed as having no ATC yesterday, however my friend obtained permission to carry out the approaches, with the proviso that French was to be used on the tower frequency.
We flew to Le Touquet, were cleared for the approaches by Lille and duly flew two ILSs, each to a missed approach. We decided not to land as Le Touquet was half-closed. We called Lille on the second go around and said we would fly VFR to Lydd. The controller initially queried the lack of a flight plan, but seem satisfied when I advised that Lydd was nominated as an alternate, transfering us quickly to London Information. On that frequency, I advised that we were diverting to Lydd VFR. The FISO made no comment and did not ask us to file an airborne flightplan.
We flew the ILS at Lydd and then diverted to our second alternate, Connington. This was because we were running out of time and landing at Lydd would have resulting in arriving at Connington after the airfield had closed, with my buddy's car locked away for the night.
So to my questions:
Given that our original flight plan was to Le Touquet with Lydd and Connington as alternates, and given that we did not land at Lydd, should we have filed an airborne flightplan for the return to the UK?
Should we have made an effort to close our flight plan to avoid any possibility of SAR in France (Le Touquet Tower was closed; Lille knew our intentions), so I saw this as unnecessary.
The original GAR form was for a return landing at Bourn, but we actually went to Connington. Should I have contacted NCU on arrival? This is the point I am most concerned about.
Any advice or actual knowledge appreciated.
Alan.
Given that our original flight plan was to Le Touquet with Lydd and Connington as alternates, and given that we did not land at Lydd, should we have filed an airborne flightplan for the return to the UK?
When I do IFR approaches on another airfield without landing, I still file two flightplans, one to get there and one to get back, at home (i.e. no air filing)
I think you're ok. You're always ok to go to either of your nominated alternates, for any reason you may decide. As commander you can elect to divert anywhere else too, if you feel it necessary.
A courtesy call afterwards to NCU and anything necessary to close the flight plan would probably be a good idea.
If the police or border folks had turned up at Bourn and were expecting you, I imagine you'd have heard from them by now ;-)
For a light aircraft arriving from France, prob95 they won't turn up unless you have non-EU nationals on board.
