Channel Islands < > mainland UK - how to do it without the 12-24hr notice?

denopa wrote:

There is one thing governments fear more than terrorism

And that’s tax-evasion being found out.

The ‘permission to fly’ number is bolleaux. You don’t need permission, you are simply required to notify in writing and they cannot prevent you flying.

The GAR itself is bolleaux really, it’s just their preferred from. The legislation doesn’t mention it, nor does it say anything about any crew or passenger details or exact arrival or departure times. Just pop an email to the general enquries email address of your local constabulary, or drop a handwritten note into the station as you pass on your way to the airfield.

That said, SkyDemon makes the GAR a trivial matter so I file it to avoid any hassle.

The special GAR you get asked to fill in on arrival in the Channel Islands, that probably has no basis in law but I view it as just a piece of airport-specific admin. You want to use their airport, then fill out the paperwork they ask you to.

I’ve once had Border Force turn up at White Waltham when returning from France. Generally friendly, but approached the aircraft before I indicated to them that they could (i.e. before I’d fully shut down) and it was amusing to give them a little safety talk. Also they were rather keen that no-one got out of the aircraft before they’d finished examining all the passports, which given the 30 degree OAT didn’t go down terribly well with us.

Once we flew to Mona (Anglesey) to meet some friends who had been on a flying trip to NI. The local plod turned out in force to meet the arrivals from NI, and then noticed us and asked us why we’d not notified them. Of course I explained that we didn’t need to, having just arrived from White Waltham. They weren’t having any of this and the senior copper asked me to accompany him to a quiet room where he spoke to me like a naughty schoolboy and said that no-one was allowed to fly into Mona without him knowing about it. I didn’t rise to the bait, just told him I thought he was wrong and if he’d like to check with his superiors then he could call or email at leisure and if I proved to be wrong then I’d eat all the humble pie he could shovel my way. Left him a phone number and an email address, his parting words were “you’ll here more about this”, and of course I never heard anything.

All pales into significance though compared to the Peterborough Sibson story that I think I’ve related before. Around the time of the London Olympics, was approached there by two plain clothes coppers just after paying my landing fee. They’d clearly just been sent to the airfield by their boss to see what was going on and check no baddies were planning a major nasty by air. They asked who had authorised/approved my flight, and of course I told them no-one, no approval of any sort was required. They couldn’t get their heads round the fact that people could fly from A to B in the UK without the authorities being informed and giving approval for that specific journey. I had to wait 10 minutes while they made a couple of phone calls to establish that this was indeed ‘allowed’.

But you do not need SB “permission to fly”. Law requires notification only.

As PIC, I’ve never been met by the police although I have to file a GAR for every cross country I do from home. Last time I was met I was flying with a friend, it was probably around 2003, and it was in East Yorkshire. There was a minor problem because my friend forgot to put me on the form (he’d already planned the trip, and asked me the next day if I wanted to go), but after a minor ticking off and a quick check, the officer seemed to be satisfied. She gave us a lift into town, too, which saved us the taxi fare.

To be honest it’s a good thing they don’t come out to try to meet me, I rarely manage to depart on time and there’s no way to amend the GAR form once you’ve sent it.

Twice I have received a phone call (last time three weeks ago) from Border Force asking if I landed from XXX. Answer = Yes, Q = why didn’t you file a GAR, A = I did and forward the OnlineGar receipt number (an advantage of the OnlineGar).
Both times it turned out that they had the wrong strip (but with the same name), all very pleasant.

It’s 12 hours for the CTA for places that don’t have Special Branch, no prior long term agreement needed with the police.

Even that is ridiculously draconian, after the Red Tape Challenge recommended its abolishment, the Police said they needed to retain the GAR to build ‘patterns of travel’, in which case if they only need it to figure out ‘patterns’ then surely a report 5 minutes before you leave would be sufficient (and much more accurate, 12 hours in advance, I can’t tell you with any certainty at what time I’m going to leave – let me file it when I leave and they will get it accurate to the minute).