loco wrote:
Is it mandatory to pass immigration when flying in from EU countries?
Since it is not in the Schengen area, I assume it is.
loco wrote:
What would be a good stop for immigration coming from the Northwest?
I have a good experience with Constanța LRCK, but that is in the Southeast, exactly the opposite of your request, so not useful to you.
I used Bucarest Baneasa LRBS in 2012 for customs control exiting the EU on the way to Odessa, Ucraine, flying from Italy (…I add a collection of pictures of that flight…)
Romania is in the EU.
It was a very GA friendly and cheap airport.
I do’nt know Brasov
loco wrote:
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.
I have just been to Zarnesti (close to Brasov) in August. It is a small grass strip close to the Bran castle which is a nice visit. lionel is correct you do need customs since it is non-Schengen. From what I know LROV is still in construction.
We flew in from Hungary and did do customs in Arad (LRAR) which I can recommend. People are very nice and it is one of the few airports in Romania with AVGAS (see NOTAM) and the prices are ok. We paid 25eur for a C172 with parking overnight.
PepperJo wrote:
I have just been to Zarnesti (close to Brasov) in August.
Thanks, I didn’t know about that one. A little short, but… How was the runway quality? Hard/soft? Holes?
It is around 500m. For some reason the “Romania & Moldova VFR Guide” only shows runway 13/31 but the locals told us that it is rarely used. Instead they use the other runway which you can see on google maps: google maps zarnesti
The runway is rough, we were told to stay on the west side of the runway since it is a bit smoother. You might get some idea how it looks like from some photos/videos here: https://www.facebook.com/Aerodrom-Piatra-Craiului-Zarnesti-220624884974333/?ref=page_internal
PM me if you need a contact from the local club.
As Romania isn’t yet part of the Schengen area, you will need customs and immigration when arriving from EU countries also. It is mostly formal, it usually takes about 5 minutes.
Best place to land first would be Arad LRAR which is cheap and low traffic, and also have AVGAS 100LL. Or if you can, go directly to Bucharest Băneasa LRBS which is 100 meters close to the capital, 10 minutes away with a taxi from the Old Center, a popular area for tourists and expats.
If you need any extra info on where to go or what to do in Romania, please let me know. Too bad most of the grass type small GA airfields in Romania aren’t listed in AIPs or SkyDemon or Garmin, even if they are active and used by hundreds of mostly ultra light aircrafts.
Bihac LQBI has customs/immigration this summer
Just received this in the newsletter of Aeroclub Una in Bihac:
Nice to see a GA-only airfield in B&H being open for international flights. Note: even before, it used to be possible to „arrange“ customs, so I don‘t actually know if this is so much news. Still, a good thing.
Interesting and nice to see the airport and BiH Ministry of Security explicitly supporting cross border business, e.g. travel to see Plitviče.
Silvaire wrote:
Interesting and nice to see the airport and BiH Ministry of Security explicitly supporting cross border business, e.g. travel to see Plitviče.
Yes but the last thing you want to do in the summer is to cross this border. All crossings between Bosnia and Croatia during summer are so congested that sometimes it can take 4 to 5 hours to cross the border.
From here
LeSving wrote:
Of course things can be made smoother, like it’s done using IPPC, both for entry into EU (all bordering countries) and flying back home from anywhere. So why doesn’t the Swiss CAA/pilot organisations/ATC make life easier for the Swiss pilots?I thought I have to send a copy of my flightplan to the Norwegian customs by myself, or does IPPC this for me automatically? Can I just file a flightplan 4 hours before DEP or ETA, so I can fly between the EU and any Norwegian aerodrome?! And can I do that with forgein ATC instances as well, like sending a flightplan to Norway via DFS, Skyguide or EuroFPL?
Travelling by car, no problem, things are taken care of (by (semi)permanent customs officers at border crossings)Thats not 100% true. You have to at least cross the border at an official border crossing point. And second, if you have specific goods to declare, you may only use assigned border crossing points for that. This is even in affect between Switzerland and the EU. But yes, in general, travelling by car shouldn’t get you in too much trouble. However, as explained before as an example, you cannot just drive with an forgein registered car in your own country, due to tax violations, even within the EU!
I was at my plane fueling up when the indignant policemen arrived… to inform me I was in violation of protocol.Dealing with the police is a lot easier as dealing with customs. The police give you a scowl or angry word and thats it. Customs will screw you up, maybe even up to private bankruptcy if you don’t communicate with them in advance. However, as explained before, customs can be quite friendly actually,as long as you communicate with them. I can’t complain so far.
Thankfully, they didn’t impound my plane and put me into a dungeon and whatnot, they just gave me the German scowl. (I can handle that)
I did learn my lesson.
