DavidC wrote:
Again as before, guns, 10K cash, pets are possible with notification. Import duty for goods can be paid online.
Well whoever gave that borderforce presentation doesnt know the law… Pets rules & regs are nothing to do with border force, they come under DEFRA…
DavidC wrote:
There was a bit a glitch recently regarding pets at Gloucester, but it was explicitly confirmed by the airport (and at the meeting) that this is now possible.
No mention of an AoC for that.
Id be really interested to know if it really is possible for any GA flight with a pet to fly into Gloucester from the EU. I looked into this several years ago – it isnt/wasnt that you needed an AOC to carry a pet, but DEFRA rules that pets can only enter via an approved carrier… And they will not allow anyone to apply to be an approved (flight) carrier unless you have an AOC…
What about pets from Northern Ireland?
skydriller wrote:
Id be really interested to know if it really is possible for any GA flight with a pet to fly into Gloucester from the EU. I looked into this several years ago – it isnt/wasnt that you needed an AOC to carry a pet, but DEFRA rules that pets can only enter via an approved carrier… And they will not allow anyone to apply to be an approved (flight) carrier unless you have an AOC…
Many years ago it was possible to get DEFRA approval to become an approved carrier via an RMOP which is essentially an association witrh an AOC holder. I did it and to this day my company is on the approved carriers list. However, getting an approved AOC holder to accept me was another matter and the one that was happy to enter the arrangement via the RMOP then put their prices up from £30 to £350.00 per animal…..
A Daily Mail article related to this topic, shining a perhaps unhelpful spotlight on Border Force procedures for general aviation arrivals into the UK.
While there seems to be a dispute between the Home Office and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Neal, as to whether the unchecked flights were “high” or “low” risk, we would not want to see stories like this being used as a pretext for limiting the freedoms that the GAR system provides especially in the current environment with a lot of political focus on immigration (although it does seem slightly surprising that only 10% of GA arrivals into London City were met by Border Force given that Border Force are at that airfield during its opening hours and so do not need to travel there specially; I wonder what the figures are for say Farnborough and Biggin Hill, or Birmingham, Luton and Stansted – the latter three being mostly airline airports but also with significant bizjet operations like London City).
Personally, I’ve only had BF turn up to Fairoaks / Southend once, but then I had a non-UK/non-EU passenger that needed a passport stamp onboard.
Unchecked flights are thought to include some from terrorism and extremism hotspots in the Middle East and Africa, as well as flights at risk of organised crime from across Europe.
‘This is a scandal, and incredibly dangerous for this country’s border security,’ Mr Neal said.
‘There should now be a rapid independent inspection of general aviation across the country.’
He said the lapse risked organised criminals being able to bring gang members and contraband into this country.
It also heightened the risk of people smuggling, including children and sex trafficking. It was unknown whether foreign nationals with no right to enter the UK were aboard some of the unscrutinised flights, Mr Neal said.
Although an aircraft’s manifest declares the number of passengers it is supposedly bringing to the UK, there is a fear that additional passengers could have been aboard some flights, and entered the country without passport controls, he added.
Mr Neal – who leaves his post next month – said he had decided to go public because of the ‘massive public interest’. The process of recruiting his successor, which is likely to take up to nine months, has not yet been launched by the Home Office.
This stuff pops up fairly often. I recall some low grade journo doing a scandalous story on how easy he could have rented a piston twin at EGHH (some charter outfit) and flew it to France.
I think cooler heads are found where it matters. Infiltration of a proper criminal is easier by a boat, and then he can bring some guns and TNT with him 
A former career soldier who was appointed Provost Marshal (Army) and commanded the 1st Military Police Brigade from 2016 until 2019, Mr Neal said: ’I’ve been involved in protecting this country all my working life.
Gosh I feel safer already, with such pompous chaps in charge of UK’s national security
Mr Neal – who leaves his post next month
What a shame 
It was unknown whether foreign nationals with no right to enter the UK were aboard some of the unscrutinised flights, Mr Neal said.
So, they must have been. QED!
The story is factually BS, too. If I was dodgy, the last place I would be flying into would be London City.
The police visit inbound flights if the GAR shows somebody a bit dodgy, but a lot of the time they just want to get out of the office.
Also you have to leave a country such as France via a C+I airport. I may be wrong but I would have thought that if the French border force saw something amiss, like a bunch of unidentified or fake passports they would either stop the flight from leaving or at least give a heads up to the UK border force.
I hope they don’t put further restrictions on the GAR when many of us are pushing for some sort of similar system here. It’s a great system allowing lots of freedom for GA and IMO I don’t think the risks mentioned above are very high YMMV.
a country such as France
Every country in the world actually.
The risks are miniscule. On the mainland there is zero additional risk because the only “border” is a proper one with fences and anti personnel mines (like CZ had with W Germany, etc) so even pre schengen there was no practical border. The UK is an island so a bit less trivial but any little boat with a decent engine can make the long crossing (nowadays only those who are properly patriotic and want a fresh UK passport are using the short route ) over 1 night.
when many of us are pushing for some sort of similar system here
Do you mean France – UK? It would be great but I have never before heard of anyone wanting it. We did that here. Who is working on this?
These questions are fundamentally ones of balance between “risk from people doing things that are not allowed” vs “how much one annoys people that do things that are allowed / loss of freedom”, and of associated costs for the state and the public.
Has illegal immigration from the Schengen zone into the UK-Eire CTA by small piston GA happened in the past? By a person becoming member of a Schengen zone aeroclub and using an aeroclub airplane to ferry migrants? Well, yes, at least once. Cough cough I even know with what plane and what aeroclub. Is combatting this worth that each small piston GA plane is escorted by the RAF or Irish Air Corps from airspace entry to landing? If I were a CTA country resident, I’d definitely vote against that…
I was referring to France. There are several pilot groups who would like to be able to fly from a small airfield in France to a small airfield in UK and back or decide on a Saturday morning that it would be nice to pop to the Channel Islands for the day. Things we used to be able to do.
Economics made it necessary to give long prior notice and some pilots like myself feels there has got to be a better way and IMO how the GAR works for UK external flights might be a good place to start.
