I caught the tail-end of a news report on Channel 4 last night and was surprised to see Sarah Smith holding a GAR (general aviation report) form. All private pilots will know this form must be filled prior to flying (literally) overseas. The GAR notifies Customs, Immigration and the Police (including Special Branch) of your intent to fly.
View the news report here
Now the question is, did the pilots of those flights ever fill in a GAR? My view is that they did not having apparently only stopped off with crew and passengers remaining airside. The aircraft in question could also easily be carrying false registrations or indeed be on the US military aircraft register. Does the latter case exclude them from civil GA flight requirements? The truth is out there...
By the way, I'm currently running and posting this through Knoppix, an adaptation of Debian (Linux) that boots off a CD or DVD and very funky it is too
Comments (1)
Anyway if I remember right
Under the Chicago convention the UK authorities have the power to search and to have any flight over UK airspace to land, where a search could take place and all documentation including the manifest to be checked...just because the aircraft is airside doesnt mean a thing. We already have sufficient powers to check on these planes
ronnie
Posted by Anonymous | April 3, 2006 12:08 PM
Posted on April 3, 2006 12:08