In the UK you can land anywhere, via the GAR form.
If you are an EU passport holder then you have to give 24hrs’ notice.
A search on GAR digs out various threads, with this one being perhaps the most recent.
The UK doesn’t need airports with Customs or Immigration. The GAR system does it.
So what is the purpose of the customs hours listed in the Exeter AIP entry? Are they entirely irrelevant for general aviation?
Be careful that you need a GAR between Northern Ireland and England.
So what is the purpose of the customs hours listed in the Exeter AIP entry? Are they entirely irrelevant for general aviation?
Probably that is for when you have not filed a GAR? The UK has a few airports like that. Police/Customs presence.
With the GAR, every UK airfield has Customs and Immigration during its entire opening hours.
Interesting, OK. As I read the July 2018 GAR instructions that’s true for arrivals from (and departures to) EU countries, but arrivals from non-EU places such as the Faroes do need to be at a designated Customs, Immigration or “Certificate of Agreement” airport, of which Exeter is the former. The instructions say nothing about time of arrival though, so it looks like I should be OK arriving outside of the published customs hours provided I’ve filed the GAR with the required notice.
Are all ARO/AIS numbers always in Gen 3.1?
For instance I’m looking at the Croatia AIP right now and although I can see a number for AIS HQ it is only open on weekdays until 1430. Not much good for closing flight plans! The only other given phone numbers are the AIP dept, the NOTAM office and a publications dept.
Hmmm.
Indeed, different countries use the term “AIS” very differently.
In Germany, they call “AIS” that office where in fact that office where flightplans go, etc. This office is obviously open 24/7.
But in most other countries, the “AIS” is merely that office which publishes the AIP and other aeronautical Information. etc. These offices only work normal bsuiness hours, of course. In these countries, the “operational” (flight plans, etc.) office is usually called the “ARO”.
In the UK, neither the term AIS nor ARO are used. In fact, the UK does not really have any ARO any more, only a very small office which they (very inapproriately) call the “Afpex Helpdesk”. How is a foreign pilot supposed to know what that really is?!…
Switzerland, which has also largely gone the “self-service route”, calls it the “AIM emergency service”…
ARO contact details are sometimes found in ENR 1.10 (Flight Planning) but yes, in the case of Croatia, it isn’t, either.
Although the relevant numbers – as I have just found – are in Gen 3.1 of the Croatia VFR Manual!!
Although I can’t seem to find it now, I could swear that I read on the website of an airpark in France that ‘by arrangement with local police’, owners of aircraft based at the airpark could fly in and out of France to non-Schengen destinations (and to Schengen during the state of emergency) with no notification to anyone. Is that a feasible scenario?
Romania, immigration and Brasov airports LRSP LROV
I would like to ask for some info on Romania and Brasov.
Is it mandatory to pass immigration when flying in from EU countries? I found no exceptions in AIP, so just wanted to confirm.
What would be a good stop for immigration coming from the Northwest? LRCL, LRTM, LRSB? Any experiences?
I see two airports near Brasov – LRSP 600m grass and LROV, which shows a concrete runway on satellite pictures. From little info I gathered, LROV is planned to be an international airport. Is it currently open? It’s not in the AIP.
Thanks for your help.
