For the record, my own airport has been and remains fully open for business as usual throughout the last year.
When considering what is “reasonable” we take account of the fact that operating light aircraft is, epidemiologically, a very low-risk activity and a very important one, both socially and economically.
Incidentally (and nothing to do with the Wuhan virus except that it’s happening as “lockdown” is ending) we have started harvesting about 10,000 tons of timber, most of which will have to cross the runway on its way to the mills. Visitors please keep a good look-out for timber wagons for the next 2-3 months. The drivers will look for, but can’t really be expected to see, aircraft on final approach.
FWIW, I can report that today I did EGKA GWC KATHY ORIST ALD ORIST KATHY GWC EGKA
Wasn’t allowed to fly the IAP at EGJA because ATC were not present 
Lowest allowed by Jersey was 2000ft. Clearly Alderney takes the virus very seriously
Anyway, because this flight ventured into the hotbed of IRA terrorism and money laundering called the Channel Islands, I filed a GAR form as required by the police even for a no-landing scenario. I filed it with the required 12hr PN and fully expected a 3am phone call querying this useless GAR, but got nothing. The PHE form is also required but could not be filed since the govt website is broken and the email validation link they send you always chucks out an error message. Well, the UK usually outsources its IT to the biggest shysters around.
But no police turned up! It is worth noting that the GAR form contains no route details; just the time you are away, and not even that if venturing into the forbidden land called the EU because that needs no outbound GAR.
A lot of training activity all over the radio. Sounded like every DA42 had a student sweating through their CAA exam.
HD movie and photos of the only people in the world leading a normal life, coming up…
Did they really tell you that a GAR was required? Or did you just do it as a “just in case”?
Terrorism Act 2000, Schedule 7
12(1)This paragraph applies to a journey—
(a)to Great Britain from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland or any of the Islands,
(b)from Great Britain to any of those places,
(c)to Northern Ireland from Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland or any of the Islands, or
(d)from Northern Ireland to any of those places.
(2)Where a ship or aircraft is employed to carry passengers for reward on a journey to which this paragraph applies the owners or agents of the ship or aircraft shall not arrange for it to call at a port in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for the purpose of disembarking or embarking passengers unless—
(a)the port is a designated port, or
(b)an examining officer approves the arrangement.
(3)Where an aircraft is employed on a journey to which this paragraph applies otherwise than to carry passengers for reward, the captain of the aircraft shall not permit it to call at or leave a port in Great Britain or Northern Ireland unless—
(a)the port is a designated port, or
(b)he gives at least 12 hours’ notice in writing to a constable for the police area in which the port is situated (or, where the port is in Northern Ireland, to a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary).
(4)A designated port is a port which appears in the Table at the end of this Schedule.
(5)The Secretary of State may by order—
(a)add an entry to the Table;
(b)remove an entry from the Table.
It’s hard to see how you could call a flight that took off from GB, and never descended below 2000ft, until landing back in GB, could be “to Great Britain from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland or any of the Islands”.
Seems a bit of a stretch to me.
By that definition, your trips back from Greece to the UK, are journeys from Greece, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, France & Channel Islands all at the time time, simply because you overflew them.
Did they really tell you that a GAR was required?
Yes – see here.
And the PHE form.
Totally bonkers, of course.
The police have also been visibly “meeting up” Shoreham flights which went to the N French airports for approaches. I don’t know any more (e.g. whether they touched the tarmac, etc). But one pilot told me the police would not rule out anything including a quarantine. Clearly I got a bit further with the police – see my above link. They had to get head office advice on whether you can catch the virus while flying!
There is a real potential issue though: if you landed abroad for fuel. Then you need to file a fresh flight plan, and it will look like you could have gone clubbing in, god forbid, a foreign country!
Peter wrote:
The police have also been visibly “meeting up” Shoreham flights which went to the N French airports for approaches
I bet they were told those IAPs don’t count them for CAA IR training outside UK
Is this the new trend for getting EASA IR exam in UK ATOs?
dublinpilot wrote:
It’s hard to see how you could call a flight that took off from GB, and never descended below 2000ft, until landing back in GB, could be “to Great Britain from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland or any of the Islands”.
GAR is required when overflying France (even when FPL is EMGC-EGMC & Southend has permanent C+I), those were UKBF words on the phone, I guess Police would say the same for NI & CI if asked?
Peter wrote:
Wasn’t allowed to fly the IAP at EGJA because ATC were not present
How about Cherbourg?
Didn’t you know Ibra ? France below FL150 is infected airspace. Any brit crew overflying must be quarantined
I see widespread ignorance is not a specific French issue 
Ibra wrote:
GAR is required when overflying France (even when FPL is EMGC-EGMC & Southend has permanent C+I), those were UKBF words on the phone, I guess Police would say the same for NI & CI if asked?
Be careful on drawing conclusions based on that. For flights in the common travel area, the Terrorism Act is the relevant legislation. For other flights it’s the customs and immigration legislation.
I’m left wondering, if they consider flying over the the Channel Islands, to be “coming from the Islands”, then they must consider flying over “Great Britain” to be a journey “to” Great Britain, since mere presents in the airspace seems to make it so in their eyes. So do they expect GARs to be filed for all airline flights from the USA to say France, which must overfly Ireland (so by their definition is coming from Ireland) and overfly Great Britain (so by their definition is going to Great Britain)?
I suspect this is more of a case of if you ask a police if you have to tell them something, it’s easier for them to say “yes you do” than say “no you don’t have to tell us”.
It’s not the first time UK police have said the wrong thing. They have in the past tried to tell me that I needed their permission to make a flight to the UK, rather than just giving notice. (They then proceeded to show me the paragraph related to a flight carrying passengers for reward, which does indeed require pre approval if not using a designated port).
Of course in present times, it might be simpler to do as they ask and keep a low profile rather than drawing attention to yourself!
I suspect this is more of a case of if you ask a police if you have to tell them something, it’s easier for them to say “yes you do” than say “no you don’t have to tell us”.
Yes; clearly this is the case. But at the same time we have the police meeting up practically every arrival where a GAR form was not filed. I have rarely done that (an unplanned fuel stop for example, and no handy laptop with which to file a fresh one) and in recent years they let me off. Nowadays, CV19 times, they can dish out a £200 fine if they don’t like your face, which is OK, but the next one will be £400 so do it twice and you are £600 down and you are still better off than engaging a lawyer.
dublinpilot wrote:
Be careful on drawing conclusions based on that. For flights in the common travel area, the Terrorism Act is the relevant legislation. For other flights it’s the customs and immigration legislation
Yes CTA flights are separate matter, I have no idea about those
For airliners GAR is never applicable maybe CAR
It was 2 years ago pre-CV19, flying Southend to Calais for TnGs, on PAF side: full stop was not required and they don’t want to see us if we are right back to UK, on UKBF side: they asked to send a GAR and reminded it’s a bit of a short notice for a EU flight
Actually, if one bothers to read the relevant legislation, no “GAR form” is required prior to intra CTA GA flights.
The requirement is to give “at least 12 hours notice in writing” to a constable. The form and content of that notice are not specified so one can write it on an old fag packet and give it to a rozzer in the street (if lucky enough to find one).
