Customs gotta have access to the FPL system, and that should give them all the tools to exercise their powers if so inclined. It could be sooo easy (that’s the real problem methinks): file FPL for border crossing, go and fly. Customs look into FPL (or Flightradar24) and decide if checks are necessary, or not. Easy, no? Them customs want something, I don’t necessarily want them.
They never had own FPL system or AFTN address?
In UK, London Info and AFIS/AG will forward any inbound FPL to them, they match that with GAR and use FR24 for arrival ETA
Let me add my experiences to this thread.
I flew from my home base Dinslaken to Bern yesterday; obviously no issues departing Germany nor arriving in Bern. Spent an enjoyable day in Bern and on the way back, due to a good lunch with much (non alcoholic) refreshments, we decided to file return to Mainz rather than direct.
Arriving in Mainz, we were told we had to take our documents to the tower and explain why we had not requested customs as required – minimum 2 hours prior notice required. I explained that at our base, we didn’t need to request customs if we were intra EU or, as in this case, intra Schengen and had nothing to declare – which is the case.
I was informed that this is only the case for non customs airports – if I had chosen to land at my home base, no-one would likely be any the wiser. The staff in the tower also seemed miffed at the whole situation but indicated they needed to file a report with the local customs as to why we had not requested customs attendance. I’ll let you know if anything crops up.
However when looking at Speyer, which in another destination for me soon, this is also a customs airfield and this contains the proviso that the removal of the necessity to land at a customs airfield does NOT remove the obligation to inform customs of your arrival at a non customs airfield. Link to the page on the Speyer website is here.
So, it looks like you can fly direct to a non customs airport but you still need to give customs prior notification to allow them to check you. The question is, how many different customs departments are you going to need to contact in order to find the one which is responsible for your airfield? From experience, I know that my home airfield is reporting to Saint Augustine but has a local office in Kleve. Marl, which is maybe 15 miles away, reports to Dortmund. Borkenberge, which is maybe equidistant to the two, reports to another customs office in another jurisdiction…..
So in other words, it appears that upon returning to Germany from (eg) Switzerland, you still have to tell customs when you will be arriving and get them to come to check you for illegal transport of goods….
That is no news. But it is certainly somewhat illogical and annoying.
That said, the Zollanmeldung in Mainz (online) is a quick thing.
@Steve6443 do you happen to know if this customs thing is just in German law or does it relate to an EU law?
I have been ploughing my way through pages and pages of EU and French National law for any reference that would allow non EU aircraft even those from a Schengen country to land at any airport other than a Union AIRPORT. Please note the term airport and not aerodrome or airfield.
And as often dicussed on Euroga, these Union Airports usually need PN and the PN time is set by the prefecture. For those not aware, a prefect in France is not a politician but a civil servant who can be moved at.a moments notice to somewhere else in France or any of the DOM TOMs.
Please give EU law if you know it.
According to my experience,
Yes, speaking strictly about CH-DE, it took some time for folks daring to try it out, but nowadays there is a good bunch of people using the benefits on a daily basis.
Being able to fly to DE and land on any, well most since one wants to avoid places insisting on retaining their old privileges (customs clearance fee) e.g. Donaueschingen etc, airfield by flying direct is of great value.
(my underlines) this still holds true.
I agree @Dan that it is/would be great to fly from Switzerland to any airfield in Germany without any customs notification. I would agree that it would be good to be able to do it in France also.
As long as pilots realise that in the absence of a law to back it up or with a law that contradicts that statement, it is at their risk and if they get fined or whatever that it is the douanier sticking to EU and/or National Law.
It could be for instance that every airport that these Swiss pilots you refer to are in fact flying to Union Airports in Germany and then, providing they PN when necessary they are following the letter of the law.
A Union Airport is not necessarily a Port of Entry to the EU or to the Schengen zone.
The issue here is this:
You are allowed to fly to the backyard of your grandmother in Germany from Switzerland (or other places which are Schengen but not EU customs union) without any notification.
BUT if you choose to use a declared customs crossing point / airport you have to follow its rules. So if it is an international airport you go through the red/green lane. If it is a small airfield with customs prior notice (I think they are called “besonderer Landeplatz” in German speak) you might have to follow its procedures which is usually a few hours prior notice. This is not ideal but very feasible as you can now fly from / to any airfield in Germany to Switzerland.
At our homebase EDAZ, which is such a besonderer Landeplatz, local customs actually did remove the requirement for prior notice but it took a while to convince them.
Sebastian_G wrote:
You are allowed to fly to the backyard of your grandmother in Germany
I know you were joking, but isn’t it still so that you can only land at designated airfields in Germany? i.e. You can’t land in somebody’s field, even with their permission.
derek wrote:
I know you were joking, but isn’t it still so that you can only land at designated airfields in Germany? i.e. You can’t land in somebody’s field, even with their permission.
To land away from a designated airfield you need a special authorization (“Außenladeerlaubnis”). Some helicopter operators have a blanket authorization while others will only get it for a special place and or time and or number of takeoff /landings. I once did apply for such paperwork and got it but 99% of German pilots will never have done this and depending on the area all kinds of limitations will apply. But there are some people keeping their helicopters in the backyard and some airfields missing proper paperwork actually operate or did operate on that basis. But in general you are right this is quite rare in Germany.
