Zika Virus Italy (merged)

Cobalt wrote:

allowed to perform the spraying and issue the certificates, and what they look like…

I like your thinking…

I have now asked the president of AOPA Italy about what is being done to put an end to this madness.

I am planning a trip to the Balkans in September, and originally thought I would fly down to Corsica and southern Italy to cross the Adriatic around Bari/Brindisi. Due to the lack of availability (and the price) of AVGAS, the disinsectization requirements and other craziness reportedly going on in Italy I have decided I prefer PPR and slots in Slovenia, Bosnia and Macedonia so I will choose an eastern route over Ljubljana, Mostar, Skopje and Ohrid to Tirana. In any event, that route will take me through a part of Europe I do not know, so much better

other craziness reportedly going on in Italy

May I ask what you are referring to here? (in addition to zika, price and avgas)

Not that it would keep me from flying to Italy, but he may have thought of
- full document check and questioning about cash in excess of €10k for intra-Schengen or even intra-Italian flights (e.g. Rimini)
- insistance of PPR in its Italian version “prior parking required” only to forget that such had been requested and given by phone (in Italian between Italians, no language issue…)
- refusal to allow a necessary refuelling landing, because not requested beforehand by fax (e.g. Bologna, Pisa, Perrugia) – no emergency, but massive inconvenience

Flying in Italy needs the extra bit of planning and preparation :-)

Here is another report of a strange police treatment in Italy. One of several I have read.

I have had bad experiences in the past too – with one especially bad one at Padova and Treviso. I got heavily criticised at the time for reporting this stuff.

But I think a big part of the problem is that N Europeans expect their accustomed level of transparency in S Europe, but in some places they are not going to get it.

It’s much easier to fly to Croatia – just along from Italy – where everything “just works”. Unless of course you want to be in Italy…

Also speaking Italian makes a huge difference in Italy – just as speaking French makes a huge difference in France, and same in Spain. This is different from Croatia or Greece which are equally “S Europe” but where nobody expects you to speak the local language.

martin-esmi wrote:

May I ask what you are referring to here? (in addition to zika, price and avgas)

For example reportedly more or less systematic ramp checks at some airports like Salerno, N-reg aircraft impounded in Sardinia, people being ousted off the airport for lack of PPR for parking although the airport is empty, customs officers that show up a couple of hours late for your departure, the “luxury” tax (withdrawn)… in addition to lack of avgas, avgas prices and zika.

Peter wrote:

Also speaking Italian makes a huge difference in Italy – just as speaking French makes a huge difference in France

Even more so in southern Italy than in France, I would say. And having people shout at you in Italian because they cannot make themselves understood is extremely annoying.

Has the luxury tax been withdrawn? It went through several steps. The first was a trigger after a few days’ stay. Then, as loads of big boats left Italian marinas and parked in France and Slovenia/Croatia, it was moved to 45 days’ stay (which is fine for most aviation scenarios, except AOG, and for that there was a provision if undergoing maintenance, presumably by an Italian company), and then it was extended again to something like a year. One Italian pilot posted that it doesn’t affect non-Italians, but without any reference. It does seem to have died down, regardless. Italians reportedly get around this tax by putting their plane into a fake “sporting club” structure – same as in a certain other southern country I know about However, I heard from Italy, that structure, if operated by an aeroclub, prevents fuel sales to visiting aircraft, so these have to be done under the table, and obviously – as a visitor – you won’t get this unless you can communicate properly.

Fortunately there remain airports which seem to work fine e.g. Elba, Lucca, Trieste… until this Zika business.

Can anyone confirm whether they got hit on Zika at an airport which does not serve commercial traffic?

Thanks for the heads-up! I’ve landed at Lucca and Venico/Lido before, and I’ve never had a problem there, but then again, they are GA friendly places. I’ll come back with a report regarding Elba next week :)