As it turned out, last night I saw one of the guys that went to Dakar and back.
2 ULM and Alpi Pioneer and a MCR01 and 2 couples did the trip. 2 of the people had what one would call school Spanish which rhey brushed up on before going, and one of the pilots had an ELP5 due to a now lapsed SEIR.
Both aircraft applied for permission to cross Spain with the Interior Ministry and at the same time they applied for permission to leave the Schengen area and re enter via a customs airport. They later heard, anecdotally, that this wasn’t necessary as they could have just used their call sign and no one knows or perhaps cares whether they are a 3 axis ULM or a certified aircraft.
They had 2 options Malaga (LEAX) where customs would come to (deplace to: literal translation from the French) or Jerez de la Frontera (LEJR) where they were told they would not need a transponder. (This might have been a mistranslation) Not that it mattered, as both aircraft were equipped with mode S.
In the event they chose LEAX Malaga because one of the couples had flown in Spain some years earlier and knew of a 800m field, Antequera, near Malaga which was normally deserted during the week and a fuel station less than a km down the road, where they could fill up their collapsible fuel cans with SP95.
All they then had to do was file flight plans.
In the end they thought that perhaps the anecdotes were correct in that once in Spain they were treated exactly as they would have been if they had been flying an EASA certified aircraft.
They later heard, anecdotally, that this wasn’t necessary as they could have just used their call sign and no one knows or perhaps cares whether they are a 3 axis ULM or a certified aircraft.
QED. 
This debate always comes back to one thing: is your insurance valid on such a flight? I’ve never seen any evidence either way, and I suppose the risk of something happening is tiny, and then the risk of the loss adjuster noticing is also small.
In the event they chose LEAX Malaga because one of the couples had flown in Spain some years earlier and knew of a 800m field, Antequera, near Malaga which was normally deserted during the week and a fuel station less than a km down the road, where they could fill up their collapsible fuel cans with SP95.
Thanks for the details, I don’t anyone who flies GA go to Malaga these days, they quoted 350€ to go to Rabat, they sent me few pages PDF of prohibited items to bring in the terminal (SP95?) and felt my pax will get offended, I went to Jerez with 50€ and nice welcome but I was told things changed slightly
Once you are past Spain no one cares or check, if you ever bother asking for sub-ICAO approvals in Morocco, the guy replies yes as long as you pay the fee, you can send anything in the form
I wrote a long email asking if it’s ok to fly TMG using UK BGA papers (no ICAO SPL back then), they asked if I paid and have EASA PPL, C2 medical and Radio? and he said “No Pb”, I got ICAO revalidation, I was not sure if it fits the bill as the glider was D-reg and revalidation talks about SEP, anyway life is short…
I don’t think they paid anything like €350 at Malaga but then again they were armed with a note/permission from the Interior Ministry so I would imagine they only paid the minimums set out under AENA. Although they may have had to pay travel costs for C+I.
If it had all come to more than €100 or even less for each aircraft I’m sure I would have heard about it before now. It might even have made some of the French GA journals, especially the FFPLUM journal.🙂 After all, food wasn’t involved.😃
