Corona / Covid-19 virus - airport and flying restrictions, and licensing / medical issues

Mooney_Driver wrote:

“Airside” usually doesn’t mean you pass immigration and therefore you can transit countries you have no visa for

Well you have to convince someone on the way back or elsewhere? happy to fly to any airport in 500nm range for a day trip this weekend if that means no quarantine on the way back (if fuel is around can do 900nm on one way, so Gibraltar is a bit to my max range )

Mooney_Driver wrote:

Depends on the airport. “Airside” usually doesn’t mean you pass immigration and therefore you can transit countries you have no visa for.

I know it often doesn’t work like this (the mythical ‘tech stop’).

However, in terms of how it is meant to work imagine it like this: you are on a yacht and it ties up at the dock for fuel, supplies etc, but you do not get off. In these circumstances you would not have to show your passport and not enter the country. In theory the same thing should be possible at an airport if you do not leave airside.

The maritime version makes more sense to local law enforcement because they can see how if you are still on your boat (which is still in the sea) then you’ve not entered the country because you have not stepped on their land. It is difficult for the average slightly stupid airport policeman to appreciate that the border technically is at the gate rather than on the runway.

Graham wrote:

I know it often doesn’t work like this (the mythical ‘tech stop’).

I guess so. Where it may well work is on international airports which do these things as daily bread. Last time I did that was in Belgrade, where it worked beautifully (2011), also the landing fee was only 15 Euros instead of 30

But you are right, today the question would be how the home airport would look at it. What I do know is that a lot of crews were sleeping on their planes in the airline business during the repatriation flights and also some of the cargo flights to / from China did not let the crews enter, nor did they want to, so they slept in the plane, usually in first or business class. Swiss and EDW did that. Consequently they did not have to observe quarantine on the way back (particularly the cargo crews).

Graham wrote:

I know it often doesn’t work like this (the mythical ‘tech stop’).

My point was not about mythical “tech stop” mechanics (I fuel at Jersey on the way to France SW from UK SE, only worked 1 out of 6 )

I assume if you fly from X to UK, you will have to spend 14 days in mandatary quarantine in the UK, I don’t think saying “I stayed airside at X airport” counts as valid reason to skip UK quarantine rules (or UK immigration, UK customs, filing FPL…)

What happens at X “airside” is usually discussed on case by case there, worst case scenario really: you will get kicked out of the airport/country either back to UK or go to Y

Here is a useful website listing the covid related restrictions in each EU country. UK isn’t participating unfortunately.

https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/FRA

So what is to stop you arriving at an aerodrome in the UK, then turning around and flying back out of the UK to somewhere else, or back where you came from? Im thinking about if you were to ferry or pick up an aeroplane somewhere and need to route through the UK. You dont actually want to stay, so you arent going to be able to infect anyone, so you wont need to be in the UK system… You are just legally required to fill in the online tracing form from what I can see.

Just for fun, if you actually go onto the UK Govt website, there isnt any way to contact someone to ask these types of questions. Just lots of links that send you around in circles!!

Regards, SD..

The unsaid impression is that nobody gives a t055 about implementing this quarantine

As the owner of a fairly typical private aerodrome in Scotland, I confirm that nobody gives a toss who flies here, or what they do when they leave. We’re simply not interested in what is none of our business. You can phone beforehand if you want, but nobody will give or deny permission to use the airfield – it’s up to you. You can submit a GAR to police or Border Force but we work for neither (in theory, we pay them to work for us) so that’s between you and them. There’s no fee to pay, no silly visitors’ book, no Obergruppenflugplatzfuhrerin. The farmer’s wife is hardly going to rush out brandishing one of her Purdeys.

Just try to obey as many of the ten commandments as you can remember and you’ll be welcome pretty well anywhere in Scotland.

If you wanted to go on a trip from the UK to somewhere in Europe, but want to avoid having to spend 14 days in quarantine upon your return to the UK, might this solve the problem:

• Fly return leg from Europe and land in Ireland.
• Fly from Ireland to UK, such flights are exempt from quarantine.

Obviously depending on your location in the UK this extra leg might be annoying in terms of extra flight hours/fuel, but on the face of it, it seems like it could be an answer for anyone who’s keen to go abroad at the moment. Thoughts?