I have just been chucking out some old GA papers. Among them were articles, from 2000-2002, torn out from the UK mags which were popular in those days (e.g. Today’s Pilot) which I had saved up as tips for places to fly to. It was quite funny to read that stuff… nothing has changed. For most UK pilots, even those on the south coast, Le Touquet remains a hugely complicated logistical exercise which involves multi-page “flying abroad” checklists (usually containing mandatory immersion suits).
But one thing I noticed was a story from one UK pilot who flew over to France without apparent regard for Customs/Immigration. Was this because he didn’t know, and got away with it, or because there were no restrictions back then? Even filing the flight plan makes it glaringly obvious to everybody in the ATC system who knows even €0.01 about the regs.
