Hello aviators.
I am planning a trip for Summer 2. A group of ULM’s flying Ireland to Murcia. Routing via EGTU / Bay of Biscay / West of the Pyrennes, Santa Cilla down to Murcia, Spain. All plans for Europe going okay and I have read many of the posts on here. Thanks for this wealth of knowlkedge.
We are staying in Murcia for a few days and hoping to do a few day trips when based down there. Maybe Majorca and North Africa. Majorca should be straight forward but I am struggling with North Africa. Algeria or Morrocco would do, just the buzz of getting to another contient.
I have read lots but got nowhere ? Do I need an agent ? Where do I start ? Whats the papertrail or is it C&I out of Schengen and a FPL ? Advice appreciated.
Cool! The people involved here will obviously know a lot about the Africa part. Sure, they will be mostly interested in “selling” their own trip to you, but maybe some good information can be obtained regardless.
Generally speaking – save for certain agreements on carte-blanche permissions – ULMs require a permit for flying and each and every country outside the country of registration. In Africa though, a permit is required even for ICAO CofA aircraft (Morocco and Tunisia have some exceptions to this, but others don’t. Maybe speak to https://www.gasupportegypt.com/.
The former-French Africa is quite popular, especially with French pilots. @vrh and @jojo went there a few times, and in Annex 1 (uncertified) aircraft.
Apart from that, the vast majority of GA flying to Africa uses overflight agents to arrange fuel and permits. I have links to some here. Most trip writeups do not mention this bit 
Yes there are loads of people selling “flying safaris” and some of the costs are eye watering. But you don’t need that.
A compatriot did a trip to Tunisia as part of a group of other ULMs (2 or 3 of them) he told me that there were no airfields they could use but they got permission to land on beaches and dirt track roads. There they were met by a fuel truck and they toured the country. I admit I didn’t ask about the admin but I would suspect it would have been arranged in conjunction with local flying clubs. I write this just to confirm Tunisia is possible as are Morocco, Senegal and a few other places. I have not met anyone having flown his ULM to Algeria yet but we do have a slightly chequered history with that country.
During my time living in southern Spain, I met a few French pilots who flew to Morocco. Algeria, OTOH is a very different beast altogether. I met one French guy who managed to pull it off and went all the way to Tamanrasset, but he had some really good connections in the country. There are several threads on flying in Morocco here, a search should bring up quite a bit of info.
We‘ve been to Algeria and Tunisia, in a certified type though, so this may be of limited interest here. Anyway, we did not use an agent but did the permits on our own, so this is apparently possible. However, speaking French is essential, the Algerian AIP is French only and we had to deal with the Algerian DGAC in French to get the permit. Even this way it required quite some resilience 🤣 Tunisia was easier. In contrast to Algeria they seemed to understand what we wanted and tried to accommodate our requirements.
As many others already wrote, Morocco is absolutely no problem. We‘ve been there a couple of times and it’s completely trouble free. However, this was with a certified type as well and I absolutely don’t know what the requirements are for a non certified type.
For ULMs Morocco requires an authorization of the Directorate of Air Transport. In their AIP (GEN 1.3) you have more info about where to ask for it and what kind of info they require. In theory you can do it by yourself. In practice people use an agent to do the paperwork, convinced that otherwise you will get no answer or will fall into a spiral of bureaucracy. I have never tried myself so cannot judge. I have heard good opinions about ASE Morocco.
Thank you for the responses. I have read all I could find here in Euroga relating to Africa. As Peter said, not everything is mentioned in the trip reports. I have looked at the AIP GEN 1.3 too which is not clear enough to direct me further. Apparently only a need to get permission for a ULM ? My aircraft will be 600kg PTF..does that make me a ULM ..
I have been told Algeria is not a runner by associates of RAID 24 but Tunisa is an option at €3000 per person 😫
600kg PTF is not a ULM in France. But you should be able to fly it in France as a PTF under a bilateral agreement with the UK.
I don’t know what licence you require. AIUI if you can fly your aircraft under your licence in the UK, you can do so in France.
But it is not a ULM unless you get special authorisation.
