I hope this post doesn’t seem very self-entitled, but I just want to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that many pilots living in Europe face an unusual problem now: they are Russian citizens. As some may have noticed by the NOTAMs all over Europe, Russian citizens cannot operate flights within European airspace. Notable exception right now is UK (where I am fortunately based), where the sanctions only cover the residents of Russia.
Before the sanctions came out I was planning a “EASA familiarization” flight as part of my CB-IR course on March 6. When the NOTAMs appeared, my initial assumption was that during a training flight I would not considered an operator of an aircraft, but the ATO with whom I am doing the training decided to ask French border force and customs just to make sure. The customs office in Cherbourg eventually responded that such a flight would not be possible. I am now considering some alternatives, such as trying to escalate this to DGAC, or some other French authority, but also I wonder if someone can share any insights on how other EASA countries currently handle this issue.
I daren’t reply.
The German NOTAM is here:
https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/DE/Artikel/K/notam-germany.html
So even if the flight instructor is the PIC the student is probably considered a charter customer.
A German magazine, Aerokurier, has pubished an article as per the German authorities confirmed the grounding for Russian pilots (incl private pilots):
https://www.aerokurier.de/praxis/ukraine-krieg-luftraeume-gesperrt-piloten-gegroundet/
“(…) Aus der Formulierung “Alle Flugzeuge, die von russischen Staatsbürgern gechartert oder betrieben werden” ergibt sich die Tatsache, dass auch Privatpiloten, die Bürger Russlands sind, aber einen Wohnsitz in Deutschland haben und hier privat fliegen, gegroundet sind. Auf Nachfrage teilte die Pressestelle des Ministeriums mit, dass alle Personen russischer Nationalität einschließlich derer mit doppelter Staatsbürgerschaft, die einen Wohnsitz in der EU haben, von den Sanktionen betroffen sind. “Die Beschränkungen gelten auch für privaten Flugbetrieb und Luftsport. Umfasst sind das Chartern und Anmieten von Luftfahrzeugen und der Betrieb von Luftfahrzeugen, die im Eigentum von Personen mit russischer Nationalität stehen.”, heißt es."
Translation:
“The wording “All aircraft chartered or operated by Russian citizens” implies that private pilots who are citizens of Russia but have a residence in Germany and fly privately here are also grounded. When asked, the ministry’s press office said that all persons of Russian nationality, including those with dual citizenship who have a residence in the EU, are affected by the sanctions. “The restrictions also apply to private flight operations and air sports. Included are chartering and renting of aircraft and operation of aircraft owned by persons with Russian nationality,” it said."
Marcel wrote:
Translation:
“The wording “All aircraft chartered or operated by Russian citizens” implies that private pilots who are citizens of Russia but have a residence in Germany and fly privately here are also grounded. When asked, the ministry’s press office said that all persons of Russian nationality, including those with dual citizenship who have a residence in the EU, are affected by the sanctions. “The restrictions also apply to private flight operations and air sports. Included are chartering and renting of aircraft and operation of aircraft owned by persons with Russian nationality,” it said."
Right, so if you have a businessman with, say, US passport, that still has not cancelled his Russian passport, then that businessman cannot fly charter plane?!
There are many people that has been expelled from the Soviet Union ages ago, and while they’ve lost the USSR passport, they’ve automatically got back the Russian citizenship, even if they haven’t got the passport. There is a special and length procedure to drop that citizenship (you have to get some papers first and then denounce it).
This is a weird one…
What about the CAT? Trains? Ships?
Well, I was born in Yorkshire, whose natives are renowned for their due respect for authority…
But I’m beginning to wonder if I might self-identify as Russian, just to fly and give a finger to such crass and spiteful discrimination.
The regulation, and the official implementation thereof, is unworthy of any liberal democracy. It’s a crime against ordinary people who have no connection with the Kremlin and who almost certainly don’t support the special military operation war crimes in Ukraine.
arj1 wrote:
What about the CAT? Trains? Ships?
In the current situation better not ask. The local grocery store has got a big sign it will not stock up any products coming from a certain country. But give it a bit of time and I assume the regulations will get more targeted and reasonable. I am sure who did the regulation did not even think of any private pilot doing traffic patterns for fun but they no longer wanted to see certain airlines, bizjets etc.
Sebastian_G wrote:
I am sure who did the regulation did not even think of any private pilot doing traffic patterns for fun but they no longer wanted to see certain airlines, bizjets etc.
What about the CAT pilot? @Sebastian_G, imagine a person who moved from Russia as a child, got a European passport, got an ATPL and flying as an airline pilot.
According to this law, that pilot has to lose the job and stop flying.
arj1 wrote:
What about the CAT pilot?
I assume that is no problem. It says “ALL AIRCRAFT OWNED, CHARTERED OR OPERATED” A pilot for an airline is not the owner, did not charter the plane and is not the operator in an aviation context of the word.
Sebastian_G wrote:
I assume that is no problem. It says “ALL AIRCRAFT OWNED, CHARTERED OR OPERATED” A pilot for an airline is not the owner, did not charter the plane and is not the operator in an aviation context of the word.
Same as student, right? You pay for the lesson, not for transport…
Or does it come under “chartered”?
If a student cannot complete his training after paying 100K, that is also not great, to put it mildly.
Crazy world. :(
