gallois wrote:
you seem to be having a tough time of it. I have never been asked
You never seem to have any of these issues, which I’m happy for you.
gallois wrote:
It would be interesting to hear from any French pilot who has experienced this and if they got to the bottom of why.
But I don’t see why you would only believe a “French pilot” and not me.
Just when someone is driving car between Lille & Antwerp, one has no extra official requirements to comply with but they should not be surprised to see customs & police checks at road border crossing…
Just ask any random guy in the road (or random pilot in clubhouse) if Shengen is suspended today 
This stuff is decided locally – presumably by the police. For example Caen LFRK wants 24hr PPR (not PNR) from the UK.
Le Touquet LFAT remains the jewel in the French crown, with 24/7 police, officially 2hr PN but nobody looks at it.
Just when someone is driving car between Lille & Antwerp, one has no official requirements to comply with but they should not be surprised to see customs & police checks at road border crossing…
Relevance to GA is … zero.
Peter wrote:
Le Touquet LFAT remains the jewel in the French crown, with 24/7 police, officially 2hr PN but nobody looks at it.
Except that the douaniers there will systematically run a check on your passport even for intra Schengen flights… even before Covid times. I think France should just officially exit the Schengen Treaty instead of pretending to be in it but not applying it.
I think France should just officially exit the Schengen Treaty instead of pretending to be in it but not applying it.
That would have the benefit of clarity, yes.
As discussed recently, that (France withdrawing from Schengen instead of applying the current exemptions) would make a HUGE difference. Not on what happens in France, but on what happens on the OTHER end of the flight.
@Rwy20 I 100% believe what you are saying, I just can’t understand why this is happening and under what law. As far as I know airport management, ATC, and Customs and Immigration, are all separate units and come under differnet secretaries of state.
I asked if any French pilots had experience of this because 1 or 2 of them might get a bit stroppy or stroppy enough to demand by what right they are being forced to do this. Whereas a non French pilot might be a bit wary of getting into such a debate or might simply be pressed for time.
I have asked people at 3 clubs and whilst many of the pilots have flown to Italy, Spain and Germany, none have had this problem.
And IMO even the NOTAM that Snoopy posted does not say that PN is required in the circumstances I explained.
I asked one pilot who is based a La Rochelle and had just made a weekend trip to Germany about the NOTAM, he simply shrugged and said I filed a flight plan and if customs want to see me they know where I’ll be and when. I know an instructor who has, as his job, flying a businessman around Europe in a light twin. If he is instructing with us at the week end I’ll ask him about these PNs and how he treats them.
One must remember there is a law in France that all restaurants and bars must check the Passe Sanitaire on entry and the police do have the right to come to these places and check as well. I would imagine the same goes for entering an airport terminal.
Rwy20 wrote:
https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/system/files/2021-11/Full%20list%20of%20notifications_en.pdf
A rather depressing list.
gallois wrote:
I have asked people at 3 clubs and whilst many of the pilots have flown to Italy, Spain and Germany, none have had this problem.
Have they used places like Cannes, LaRochelle, Picardie, Tours, Beauvais? or places like Pontoise, Lognes, Etampes?
I know 4 French pilots who got asked this in past years mostly by operations staff, when you go to see customs/police they are not interested, especially if you are French back home even easier when you can use aeroclub hangar gate (you have the codes) rather than being forced to go via the main terminal for “interrogation”…
https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/system/files/2021-11/Full%20list%20of%20notifications_en.pdf
Are we supposed to breif on this?
Well I suppose that list just about answers the question about under what right do they do this.
What are secondary movements?
These airports obviously consider themselves as border crossing points. So as others have said just avoid them.
