CIME card in France - a mandatory crew certificate?

MedEwok wrote:

The ZÜP is valid for five years. At EDDV one has to go through a security check at the GA terminal that is very similar to what passengers go through (except nobody bothered to take away my Swiss pocket knife), then you can enter the apron unaccompanied.

When I once arrived as a visiting pilot (still student pilot actually) I was bussed with a follow me car. Same at EDDW.

Reminds me of a time I flew to Bratislava back in 2012, spent a couple of days looking around the city – can recommend it – and on my return, went through security control at the GA. The man checking the people wishing to board was new and keen, you can imagine his joy at finding in my pilot’s bag a Swiss army knife and proceeded to confiscate it, lecturing me about how such weapons were not allowed. I told him I needed the item to use as a lever to open the oil cap – sometimes “he-man, master of the universe” would charter the club Archer before me and screw the cap down so tightly, that only by using the bottle opener part of the knife as a lever could I actually open the cap to check the oil.

I then asked him – I’m the pilot, alone in the plane. What do you think I’m going to do? Threaten to stab myself unless I fly myself to Cuba?

His manager came over to ask what the furore was about and he explained that he’d caught me in possession of a deadly weapon.

The manager just smiled, took the knife, handed it to me and said “forgive us, he’s new”….

To clarify and insist, the current discussion, and the “new” CIME card is not about accessing one’s aircraft at one’s home base. Based pilots already have (or can obtain) an airport identification card for this. This is about accessing one’s aircraft at any SRA of any (French) aerodrome that has a SRA.

I agree that is how I understood it as well, anyone who has GA aircraft based in “big airport” (I was renting one based in Lille) is likely to have the DGAC badge sorted for that airport, what I understand that badge does not cover other airports unless they get an extra CIME badge…it’s pity: to get DGAC badge for your home airport you need a full package and few months of investigation

lionel wrote:

at Deauville LFRG, there is a sign “security restricted area active” or “security restricted area not active”, my understanding is that they activate the restriction from “before the commercial airplane arrived” to “after the commercial airplane departed” or something like that. Outside of these times, the apron is reclassified as not a security restricted area, and people can access it without a crew identification card.

Jönköping (ESGJ) has a very similar arrangement.

Peter wrote:

while the rest of the EU has mostly not been requiring these ID cards?

You mean like Scotland airports? I am sure they require escorts and badges from CAA/DFT

https://www.euroga.org/forums/hangar-talk/8954-are-we-still-allowed-to-access-our-aircraft/post/232555#232555

I think most countries complied with this regulation by insisting on escort and handling for GA visiting pilots in places that are busy with airlines? and simply banned GA based pilots in large airlines airports?

Airport badge thingy was surely around in most EU/UK individual airports (have you been based in Biggin?) but it seems that someone is now pushing for one card that covers all French airports? I am not sure why and if it’s a good or bad thing?

Many regional French airports are now privatized (Edeis took lot of them in the last 3 years), then this audit and CIME comes up !

It’s unlikely that this was an issue when most airports were ‘properly managed’ by industry chamber: we had Gerard, the fireman, who was mandated by taxpayers to do escort, security, handling…Gerard, also served as the local ‘EU law chairman & compliance officer’

lionel wrote:

I fail to see that. Could you please put my nose on it?

Here:
lionel wrote:

1.2.3.1 A crew identification card of a crew member employed by a Union air carrier

and here:
lionel wrote:

1.2.4.1 A crew identification card of a crew member employed by a Union air carrier

lionel wrote:

My reading is that the regulation was written without thinking of non-air carrier traffic at all.

That may well be. I must admit to not having read the entire EU regulation being referenced. But everything that I have seen quoted here indicates that the regulation applies to air carrier crews, not private GA. BTW, if a law says “crew member employed by a union air carrier” that cannot be interpreted to apply to private GA crew and any bureaucrat who tries to do so should be challenged. There are lots of airport regulations which specifically apply to air carrier crew and do not apply to private pilots. Sometimes EU bureaucrats try to exercise more authority than they actually have.

chflyer wrote:

a law says “crew member employed by a union air carrier” that cannot be interpreted to apply to private GA crew

The regulation says that access to the SRA can only be granted on basis of one of five identification documents. If your reading is that crew not employed by a Union air carrier cannot at all get a valid Crew Identification Card (one of the five acceptable documents to access the SRA) because the technical requirements that apply to a Crew Identification Card only mention "crew employed by a Union air carrier ", then we are even more excluded from SRAs than in my, DGAC’s and the Commission’s reading of that commission :) And you’d also conclude that crew employed by a third state carrier also cannot get access to the SRA :)

And you’d also conclude that crew employed by a third state carrier also cannot get access to the SRA :)

Let’s say the professional pilot is flying for United Airlines or Pakistan Airlines, how does one ensure that he has a “compliant crew badge”? is this an ICAO standard?

Ibra wrote:

Let’s say the professional pilot is flying for United Airlines or Pakistan Airlines, how does one ensure that he has a “compliant crew badge”? is this an ICAO standard?

ICAO calls it a “Crew Member Certificate”; it is in Annex 9 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (ICAO DOC 9303):

• chapter 3, section M
• appendix 7

with further technical details in part 5 which I have not immediately found a copy of.

The sections indicated by chflyer are the EU’s implementation of these ICAO standards, defining how the EU Member States must handle the issuance of issuance of these ICAO “Crew Member Certificates” for crew employed by their carriers.