Hi all,
I’ll be leaving Canada in a week for an Atlantic crossing to Europe and back. I think I’ve read every applicable AIP, and that part seems quite clear, but I think it’s easy to miss something, customs/immigration wise.
This is my summary soo far. I’m especially interested to know if I missed any other GAR-style requirements.
Canada: CANPASS phone call required when entering the country, use international airport
Greenland: arrive and leave via international airport with customs
Iceland: arrive and leave via international airport with customs
Faroe Islands: arrive and leave via international airport with customs
UK/Schotland/England: arrive via international airport, and file a GAR at least 24 hours in advance before arriving and before leaving again.
Ireland: arrive via international airport, leave from wherever to UK or Belgium
Belgium: arrive via international airport, file a GAR before arrival
Norway: arrive and leave via international airport with customs
Did I miss anything?
This is the full routing if interested – here
Kind regards,
digits
Hi Digits,
what type of acft are you flying ?
Please feel free to ask for any support when flying in Belgium.
Have a safe trip !
digits wrote:
Did I miss anything?
Just happened to have flown a similar route recently, albeit the other way round…
- Canada, not sure if the requirements are depending on the citizenship… ArriveCAN app clearance number and a phone call (+1-888-226-7277, 1h03mn hold on my last call inbound from the US…) at least 4h prior to arriving in Canada. I also had to use an eTA (Electronic Travel Authorisation). Use what is called Port of Entry airport. Yes, CYFB is one.
- Greenland, same remark about citizenship. Considered as Denmark, not much fuss for Schengen members. Phone or email your information to the airport in advance. The friendly AFISOs do all the paperwork as part of the handling.
- Iceland, 3 (4) Ports of Entry: BIAR (or BIKF if you insist), BIRK, BIEG. Custom forms to be filled on arrival, usually done by the handling agent, though available online for printing and pre-filling.
- Faroe, EKVG being the only airport there, the choice is rather limited. Again, it belongs to Denmark. Good luck with the weather though… I wouldn’t rely on landing there.
Enjoy and good luck 
That’s some trip 
What aircraft do you use?
For Norway (and I guess it’s the same for other Schengen countries?) It depends where you are coming from.
The general rule is a notice to customs office at least 1h in advance ([email protected])
If you come from a Schengen country, have a small aircraft (MTOW < 7500 kg), you can go to lots of other airports, almost all, but the mail in advance has to be at least 4 h early.
The official stuff from the CAA is, as always, in VFR Norway
Have a nice trip
digits wrote:
Did I miss anything?
I don’t see why you would need an international airport when landing in Belgium. Ireland and Belgium are members of both the EU and of the Schengen treaty.
Ireland and Belgium are members of both the EU and of the Schengen treaty.
Ireland is not in Schengen treaty but they are in customs union (although Belgian police/customs are unlikely to be aware)
Ireland has it’s immigration more aligned with other CTA countries, they still allow EU freedom of mouvement of EU citizens…Croatia is also member of EU & customs union but not Schengen
Strictly speaking “Schengen = no international airport or no formalities” is not true across the board, say Ostend to LaRochelle need PN, France to Greece need POE with Fraport, Sion to Lognes did not seem ok but was not an issue in my case (nothing was under the risk of getting taxed as it was taxed by the French already)
Ibra wrote:
Ireland is not in Schengen treaty
I stand corrected! Sorry for the confusion.
Thank you all!
Airplane type will be a Cessna 310, mtow 2.4 ton (5200lbs).
Nationalities on board will be Canadian and Belgian.
Nationalities on board will be Canadian and Belgian.
I don’t think it matters much as far as where you legally need to land an aeroplane when crossing borders, however, it may slightly matter in terms of police/customs interest if you land in the wrong spot or did not comply with the rules
digits wrote:
Did I miss anything?
Cool trip – just came back from something similar (but went further west to Alaska before I turned back east).
Practically only Canada (Canpass, Call before departure, Call after landing if not an international airport) and the UK (GAR) are a bit more complex – the rest is simple and people at the airport will help you through the paperwork if necessary.
As the C-310 needs Avgas two hints not related to immigration:
- At CYFB it makes sense to call in advance to “reserve” your avgas. They should have enough but they are only allowed to store a comparatively small number of barrels at the airfield (the rest is somewhere near the harbour) – therefore it could delay you by half a day or so if you show up unexpected and they just ran out of barrels at the airport
- At CYRT they sell Avgas not only by the barrel (as they also do in CYFB) but also in the barrel – you need to bring your own pump or other means of getting the fuel from the barrel into your tank.
