Flying a private plane around the Caribbean in spring 2004

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 17:26:44 GMT, Martin Hotze
wrote:

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 16:44:33 +0000, wrote:

Second time I got the most awkward immigration guy you could imagine.
He wasn't pleased I gone out of the hall back to the aircraft
unaccompanied to get my passport.


well. their rules; you may find them silly, but it is their game.


No objection to rules but a sign on the door to say no exit would be
helpful. Instead they left me filling in the forms and then went into
the next room. No sign of them when I looked.

He complained about me stepping over the line when nobody else was
ahead of me


another rule. you broke it.

As nobody in the hall so I called out and stepped towards the voices
in another room. No reply for a while until I moved forward!

He decided my permanent Visa was no longer valid as the regulations
had changed so he cancelled it! This was despite being accepted on my
arrival to the US a week earlier.


maybe the regulations changed within this week?

No, they apparently changed some considerable time before (2-3
years?).

He asked why I had not checked with immigration on departure (not
possible, nor suggested, at Titusville, Florida). He said I should
have contacted them anyway though the first time I went to the Bahamas
no comment was made.


you did ADCUS? you informed them of your planned arrival time?


Yes, but I had officially I left USA for Bahamas and not had any
documentation stamped. Now he wanted to know why. Not unreasonable but
nobody had suggested that's required and was not a problem on the
previous trip some years previous. I've not seen anything in any
documentation that I needed to leave from Florida at a Port of Entry.

He wanted the address where I was staying but as I was late back I
still needed to find a hotel.


then tell him "I will check in at the Holiday Inn (or whatever chain)"


I still had to fly back to Titusville so had no idea where I was
staying so I put then following nights address, at a resort. But I did
not have the complete address available with me!

Despite recommendations of ease of customs/immigration I won't ever
use Fort Pierce again.


David


This guy was unhelpful when asked and was simply being officious.
No sign of 'sorry but you should have done it another way'. Just being
as B*** awkward as he could have been!!!



E-mail (Remove Space after pilot): pilot

wrote in message
...
Despite recommendations of ease of customs/immigration I won't ever
use Fort Pierce again.


David

Piper Warrior G-BHJO
Scotland, UK

You and I are in TOTAL agreement.

The one, and only time, THIS US citizen flew through Ft Pierce to the
Bahamas will be the last.

The Ft Pierce Customs people were absolutely the most arrogant, rude, and
ignorant excuses for anything that passes for human beings I have ever
encountered in my life (I'm 59 now, and this was about 5 years ago).

Total dickheads. Now, after 911, and the advent of our wondrous new TSA
bureaucracy, I wouldn't even consider doing any such thing. It was broken
before, and more government can't have made it better.

On 1 Nov 2003 14:52:55 -0800, Klaus Bucka-Lassen wrote:

We are two Danes and two Austrians who have thought of flying around
the Carribean for about a month in late winter/wpring 2004. Just from

check for VISA requirements. in all countries you plan to stay (and all
those you select as alternate).

looking at the map we figure it should be possible to do some loop
around the Caribbean Sea (Cuba - Haiti - Domenican Rep. - Puerto Rico
- Venezuela - Panama - Costa Rica - Nicaragua - Honduras). Maybe even

well, doable and reasonable are 2 different things. :-)

extend it to cover the Mexican Gulf as well (going through Texas, the
southern US states and coming down Florida back into the Carribean
loop). It looks doable to us - the longest stretch of water seems to
be no more than about an hour of flight.

well, some of the above countries are on an evil axis, according to the
current US administration. Also you should check with your Austrian and
Danish embassy about travel warnings.

I (Klaus) have a PPL and have already done a big trip of that

you all are planning to fly on basis of which national certificates? And
you plan on flying N-reg planes?

magnitude (2 1/2 months, 115 flying hours actually) around Australia
(www.bucka-lassen.dk/flacroz). Experience is about 200 hours as PIC.

well.
are you instrument rated?

Wolfgang, the other pilot also has a PPL and a little less experience.

instrument rated?

We'd be looking into hiring a plane like a Cessna 172, a Grumman
Tiger, Piper Archer II or any similar sized plane (maybe slightly
bigger) that can carry about 300kg of passengers and luggage in total.


4 plus fuel plus luggage plus survival gear in a C172 or an Archer?
nice idea.

ANY suggestions on the route, hints on what to see and what not, what

_always_ unload your plane totally before leaving a country and search for
drugs.

countries to look up and which to avoid, tips on where to hire a
plane, administrative stuff that has to be sorted out (visas for
instance) etc. would be greatly appreciated!

well, _I_'d look into an instrument and multi rating and min. 100 hours
intensive training. But this is only me.

#m
--
http://www.refuseandresist.org/

Martin,

instrument rated?


While I agree on your other comments: What for?

To Klaus:
Many of the countries you mention are classic drug runner countries.
Cut your list down a little bit and you'll save a lot of trouble.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
..
|
| well, some of the above countries are on an evil axis, according to the
| current US administration. Also you should check with your Austrian and
| Danish embassy about travel warnings.

Really? I seem to recall only three countries being mentioned in the 'Axis
of Evil' speech, none of them in the western hemisphere.

On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 06:56:15 -0800, C J Campbell wrote:

| well, some of the above countries are on an evil axis, according to the
| current US administration. Also you should check with your Austrian and
| Danish embassy about travel warnings.

Really? I seem to recall only three countries being mentioned in the 'Axis
of Evil' speech, none of them in the western hemisphere.


they *are* evil. nobody has to make comments about it. either you are with
the gov'ment or you are !"§"!$§!11^^^well, I guess it is time for my
medication.

:-)

#m

--
http://www.refuseandresist.org/

C,

Really? I seem to recall only three countries being mentioned in the 'Axis
of Evil' speech, none of them in the western hemisphere.


He said "a", not "the". There's a war on drugs besides the war on terror.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Hi everybody

Thanks a lot for the replies - they are greatly appreciated! Keep them
coming :-)

As for the license ... I should have told you in the first mail of
course. Neither of us have an instrument rating and don't plan to get
one. We both have the Swiss JAR licenses. I also had the Australian
license back in 2000/2001, but that is invalid by now. We have no
extra endorsements (retractable undercarriage, float alighting gear,
constant-speed propeller, and the likes) but would consider doing them
if it is necessary or makes our lives easier on this trip.

I've already seen most of the US (covered 42 states by motorcycle in
1995) so other than hiring a plane there, I personally don't have an
urge to go to the states again - on this trip anyway. That would also
save us some visa-problems as pointed out by some of you. The question
then is if we can find another place where we can hire a plane (in a
reasonable condition). Four people + luggage + survival gear will
admitedly be hard, not to say impossible, in a PA28 for instance. So
we might look into something slightly bigger - maybe something with
retractable gear / turbo / constant speed or similar performance
improving technologies.

As for where to hire the plane I had an idea of going to one of the
British, French, or Dutch islands (Turks, Caicos, Virgin, Anguilla,
Point-a-Pitre, Martinique, etc.). At least Great Brittain and France
(not sure about Holland) are JAR-countries like Switzerland, so our
licenses should be valid there (unless there are special rules about
thos islands). However it will be a whole lot more expensive and
complicated to get to those islands then say Miami for example.

We'll definitely go and get both the "Bahamas and Caribbean Guide for
Pilots" and the Lonely Planet for the Eastern Caribbean. Is there any
literature of that kind (especially for pilots) for the South &
Central American countries (Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Guatemala)?

As for the drug-problem that was mentioned in a few postings: Even if
I did empty the entire plane of luggage before each departure ... I
couldn't possibly search all places where drugs could be hidden. And I
do imagine that professionals that do want to use us as drug couriers
would be able to hide those drugs in places I couldn't even think of
right now. Is that a real possibility - sound crazy to me to hide
stuff in my plane if they couldn't even be sure where I am going next!

Axis of evil are by definition (George W. Bush): Iraq, Iran and North
Corea (I think), but let's not get into that discussion - it could
easily drown the real issue here ;-). However, I do agree that some
countries are more suitable for vacation than others. Haiti for
instance doesn't sound so great. But which ones do you think we should
avoid?

Regards,
Klaus Bucka-Lassen

P.S.: This time I have only posted to rec.aviation.piloting since this
seems to be the right place now.

On 2 Nov 2003 12:59:36 -0800, Klaus Bucka-Lassen wrote:

Four people + luggage + survival gear will
admitedly be hard, not to say impossible, in a PA28 for instance. So
we might look into something slightly bigger - maybe something with
retractable gear / turbo / constant speed or similar performance
improving technologies.

Maybe a C182 will do the job.
You need a high speed endorsment for a C182.
And you might have some additional reqirements for renting a C182 (or any
other more powerful airplane).

Also look into insurance or check your rented plane for insurance coverage
in all those countries. You might need to buy additional insurance.

#m
--
http://www.refuseandresist.org/

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
On 2 Nov 2003 12:59:36 -0800, Klaus Bucka-Lassen wrote:

Four people + luggage + survival gear will
admitedly be hard, not to say impossible, in a PA28 for instance. So
we might look into something slightly bigger - maybe something with
retractable gear / turbo / constant speed or similar performance
improving technologies.

Maybe a C182 will do the job.
You need a high speed endorsment for a C182.


Never heard of a "high speed endorsement". Who requires that?