While planning to fly to Colmar next week I looked at the NOTAM’s. Apparently this Customs form is now only applicable for outside Schengen/EU, so that’s a plus for many. But there is this one that says that you need to fax your flight plan to Le Bourget. @Aviathor was kind enough to call Colmar OPS and found out that it is for info only so should you ‘forget’ you won’t end up in jail. So just file the way you are used to. Thanks again Aviathor!
Just in case I do end up in jail, may I count on some of you to come visit me?
Slight thread drift, only a few miles though 
I was put off a bit by this customs forms stuff at Colmar (I hate senseless burocracy) and so looked at alternatives to Colmar to pick up a friend in Basel to fly back with me to Mallorca. I used to go to the main airport in Basel, but the ‘powers that be’ in Spain decided that this airport is outside of Schengen (go figure, it is LFSB, never mind, long story..)
So I found Habsheim, LFGB, just north of Basel main airport. What a nice surprise! VFR only, 1000 m runway, just next to Mulhouse, straight under the ILS 16 for Basel. Very welcoming atmosphere at one of the aeroclubs there, and they even forgave my rusty French in the circuit. Rather than having me take a taxi, the president of the aeroclub took me to my hotel in Mulhouse. Next day, the weather was ahem marginal VFR but still managed an expedient Z departure out of there, with some local knowledge.
The only inconvenience was that LFGB has only AVGAS, so on my way to LFGB I had to make an stop in Lyon for a top-off in order to make it back to Mallorca in one go. Actually, careful as I am, while driving to my departure airport in Mallorca I decided to stop at a gas station and get a jerrycan with 20 litres to take with me. God bless Diesel engines.. So I put these 20 litres in at LFGB. But darned, this fuel is tainted! Turned out the lovely girl at the gas station figured I picked up some fuel for my tractor, so got me the subsidized ‘agricultural’ Diesel fuel. I decided to run the engines for a while just to make sure, but it ran even smoother it seemed.
I am counting on all of my EuroGA friends to not denounce me to the Spanish tax authorities to have used cheap fuel meant to help farmers rather than help well-to-do aviators..
if you haven’t already done so, pay a visit to LFGB and provide a generous tip on top of the 7 euro landing fee to support that wonderful field!
Yes but we were talking about landing at night when nobody is around anymore and you turn on the lights from the air.
i paid 11.57euro landing fee for 1540kg mtow
Quite interesting details. Thank you for reporting.
AeroPlus,
of course, most of us know and appreciate that Colmar is a good GA airport.
But still, there are now (still comparatively minor) nuisances there:
1. need to file a flightplan for every flight
2. need to advise customs – even for flights that don’t require customs!
3. a lighting fee of, if reported correctly, something like 90 Euros!! Must be the most expensive electricity in Europe!
just been there today u need to fill in the custom form from there web site and email them to the relevant email (ideally 24hrs but i did it today 3 hrs before)
nobody was there but than all ok
cheap fuel 1,57
I have very good experiences with Colmar. Very friendly staff and airport facilities are great. You can land outside operational hours, but I would advise you to call them to turn on the pilot-controlled-lights (PCL) system, also called STAP. They sometimes have to turn the switch on in the tower to have the lights available for you when you are flying in. The use the control tower frequency to activate the lights. And … tell them you will not need AFIS and that you will speak French on the radio.
All I then do is speak some words of French on the radio such as that I am finale piste xx. Some would not do this, but that is up to them. Outside AFIS hours you might need an Air BP or Total card (whatever they have at the airport). If you can manage to land there while the tower is open, it is great and you will find them to help you out with getting a taxi etc. The costs of landing and parking are very cheap.
Colmar is a great city to visit as well in summer time with good wineries in the area.
@aart No, so far no reply from them. On the other hand I figured that it makes more sense to me to fly direct. It’s about a trip from Hamburg EDDH back to Sabadell LELL and I believe I can make it in one go.
However, the question is still relevant.
According to their website and the NOTAM above there is a requirement to inform customs about your arrival and they do have a form for that on their website.
Checking the NOTAMs, I see that a flight plan must be filed anyway, but there is no indication that immigration/customs will be informed. Better play it safe and call them (if you speak French) or send a fax (if you still have such a machine).
LFFA-B1002/16
Q) LFEE/QFZXX/IV/NBO/ A/000/999/4807N00722E005
A) LFGA COLMAR HOUSSEN
B) 2016 Feb 24 16:19 C) 2016 Jul 02 16:00
E) DOUANE :
INFO CLI METZ POUR TOUT VOL TRANSFRONTALIER
O/R PN 24H TEL : +33 (0)9 70 27 74 02 FAX : +33 (0)3 87 36 00 84
OU CLI-METZ
LFFA-B1126/16
Q) LFEE/QFAXX/IV/NBO/ A/000/999/4807N00722E005
A) LFGA COLMAR HOUSSEN
B) 2016 Feb 29 23:59 C) 2016 May 15 23:59
E) DEPOT DE PLAN DE VOL OBLIGATOIRE POUR TOUT VOL A L ARRIVEE ET AU
DEPART
