That’s a good reason to make sure I always land on an international airport when I go to the UK.
If you fly to the UK, you can land anywhere in the UK (even at a farm strip) if you submit the UK GAR Form in accordance with the prior notification requirements.
UK doesn’t really operate the Port of Entry system like everybody else does.
The crime in question (departing from a French airfield which does not have the authorisation for that) would be committed in France, not in the UK.
I realise you are probably aware of this, @FredPilote, but it wasn’t quite what you wrote above and this is a confusing topic for many 
You are correct @Peter, this is in France, when going outside the Schengen area, which is, for most of us in mainland Europe, when going to or from the UK.
And obviously, when landing in the UK, the GAR system means you can land anywhere, which is really great ! Even better, no GAR form necessary when leaving the UK to go to mainland Europe !
Maybe one day the GAR system will be available in the Schengen area, maybe … one day …
The GAR form is required for outbound flight from the UK if going to non-EU destination, or if anybody on board does not have an EU passport. At least that’s how I remember it.
The history of the GAR system would be interesting. UK pilots ritually slag it off (and the police job creation scheme around it, especially to Ireland etc, does not help) but it is an amazing facility.
However, it is only very recently that it could simply be emailed to the one email address and that covers every use of it. Previously it had to be faxed and there were many problems with that. But then it was not enforced (except for the Ireland etc stuff which was always extremely tightly run by the police) and until maybe 5-7 years ago almost nobody bothered filing it for mainland Europe.
In fact, only their Excel form is allowed. Reason is they can thus automatically copy its contents straight into their own software/database.
How come I have been emailing them PDFs all these years?
The whole point of that is that I keep prefilled GAR forms with regular passengers.
Don’t know. I just referred what they want and how they work.
YMMV, but if they are playing nice they will let you get away with an iPad photo of the form. AOPA provides a free online service to members but for SE Piston only.
Not sure if this came up before but I found this guidance form from 2015 [ local copy ]
which says on page 2
which again says only the Excel version is acceptable, but it does confirm that the email method is OK.
I have just filed a GAR to Alderney and didn’t get the customary early morning phone call with the “permission to fly number” (!!) so I was going to cancel the trip else I might get their 3hr interview again… I phoned up the local police on the 01273 404524 number shown in the guidance form and the man said he didn’t have it but it would be OK if I email him a copy, which I did to
and he said he got it OK.
Clearly the email system is not working properly.
GAR Form Channel Islands / PN 12hr
I’m presently planning a trip to Guernsey.
The trip will be in about 3 weeks, so there is more then enough time for planning.
The direct flight to Guernsey might be possible, depending from the wind conditions on the DOF.
I just found out via autorouter, that I need to file a GAR form 12 hrs before the flight.
Let’s say, I decide to do a direct flight from ETSI to EGJB and file the GAR form the day before the flight.
If I discover during the flight, that the wind is stronger then forecasted, I will make a fuel stop in France and then continue to EGJB. This means, the information in the GAR form are not correct any more.
What to do? File a new GAR form and wait 12 hrs??
