Stancie and I love flying to the Bahamas every year. The 700 or more islands arrayed to the southeast of Florida are a pilot's paradise with unbelievably clear water, spectacular beaches and friendly people. But the return trip is annoyingly complicated by a now-out-of-date U.S. Customs rule that I hope can change.
It was in the 1970s, as I recall, that Customs issued new rules requiring pilots returning from south of the border to land at the closest airport of entry to their border crossing. That means pilots returning from the Bahamas or other island vacation spots, can fly no further north than Fort Pierce, Florida, before landing to clear Customs. If you can fly at 23,000 feet or above you can go as far north as Wilmington, North Carolina, by using the oceanic route system. Pilots who fly in the high altitudes can also get specific "over flight permits" from Customs to continue beyond the border, but it's a hassle and not available to most GA pilots.
Customs said the requirement for landing at the border crossing would help deter drug smuggling in general aviation airplanes which was rampant at the time. Since I can't imagine a drug smuggler checking in with Customs at any airport, how this restriction helped reduce smuggling is beyond me. Only those pilots with nothing to hide taxi up to the Customs office.
Drug smuggling in light airplanes probably still happens, but is far less common than 30 years ago. Now the major Customs concern is terrorism so it is more interested in keeping track of people leaving and entering the country than in finding contraband. That's why the eAPIS program that requires all pilots to inform Customs, and then receive prior permission, before flying out of or back into the country was established and put in force last year. The eAPIS preclearance report we must now all file on the web contains every kind of identity information for each person in the airplane that you can think of, along with complete identity information on the airplane itself. Passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses and the works are all in the Customs computer system before a pilot takes off.
With such complete information in hand, why do we need to land at the border in Florida, Texas or California? With eAPIS now in force, not one bit of security would be lost if pilots fly to the most convenient airport of entry instead of the one where they cross the border.
On every return from the Bahamas, the stop in Fort Pierce for Customs demands a second time-and-money-wasting fuel stop for us. My Baron can't quite make it from Fort Pierce to New York, but I could easily fly from Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas to New York with only a single combined fuel and Customs stop farther north. I am not objecting to the eAPIS preclearance system, I find it works just fine, but I want Customs to give something back. Letting pilots overfly the airport of entry at the border and continue to a convenient stop would be a just trade in return for the eAPIS requirements.
All Comments
There are out islands that do not have reliable/convenient commnication options, phone or internet, that find inbound customs reporting to be impractical. eAPIS may be acceptable from the more American tourist frequented islands but is a great inconvenience for others!
I’m all for convenience, but I’m more for security. The further someone can overfly the good ole USofA, the more drugs and undesirables they can drop.
Yes, it would be more convienient, but think of the economic boost you are giving to Ft. Pierce! And, since you don't mind higher inflation, you can probably afford it. Sorry Mac, but as someone who gave up the flying dream due to the cost, I have a hard time feeling sorry for anyone who owns a Baron and has to make an extra stop.
Ever been tilting at windmills? I am afraid the words common sense and customs and immigration are opposites. The people who import alcohol still battle rules established in the 18th century, so you may have some time before you see any change to a 1970s rule. You are lucky you do not have to submit a sworn declaration about the number of feathers on your wings....
Mac, What's even more bizarre is sailing back into the states, tying up @ a dock & calling Customs for either a visit or clearance (their choice.) Not that a 30-50' sailboat/trawler could carry a WMD &/or a small terrorist group. Makes my hair hurt when I thing about that.
Mac, I think what you're describing has been called "Security Theatre" (http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/11/beyond_security.html) and when people actually stop and think for a minute, I think they come to conclusions a lot similar to yours. The system is a huge bureaucracy that does little but frustrate legitimate users.
The reason for the first stop is security reasons. It's far easier to track just the light aircraft that do not stop at the first airport rather than try to track all of them. These aircraft can cancel IFR, descend and easily be dropped from the system. Inconvenient maybe, but necessary.
I fly to the Bahamas several times a year, I lease a home over there and travel often. I have been over there many times by boat also. I notice, the more regs the U.S. Gov places, the more screwed up it gets.
I have been and had my aircraft searched many times over the last several years, but now, I have not been searched for over a year,,,but now thay have come to my airport and search me, aircraft, and hangar before I leave the country. They are not looking for drugs, they are looking for money,,,yes MONEY. People are afraid of what the President is going to do to us, people are taking there cash out of the country.
Our borders are wide open, come in by boat, you are not searched, and they do not even know if you arrive,,don't clear...they don't know, if you are not cleared by a phone call, they want you to drive to the airport with your boat to clear..some security.
Border Security is a joke, if you don't file Eafis, they won't even know you cross back, General Aviation are easy targets, easy to watch and keep track of, yes they need to back off and give us a break, we are not the problem.
I am Canadian but I hold FAA Commercial/Multi/Instrument ratings as well as my Canadian ratings. Most years I fly into the U.S. 3-10 times. I'm not really too scandalized about EApis. There were a lot of bugs at the beginning, the worst of which was that you couldn't file properly if you left the U.S. from a non-customs airport despite the fact that there is no need to report to Customs before leaving. I hear that they have fixed that. Another important point about my flying is that I fly from Niagara District Airport (CYSN) which is virtually on the border. It is pretty easy for me to fly to Buffalo (KBUF) for Customs clearance. It is 20 minutes away so predicting the time and place of crossing into U.S. airspace isn't much of a problem. It might feel different if I was further away. What I would really like to see and urge U.S. pilots to argue for is to make EAPIS a one stop process. If you could file your EAPIS and get your landing permission at the same time or by logging in later, it would, at least get around the process of calling the port of entry and getting a landing permission. It would be a matter of adding a scheduling component to the software. I think that it would be a gesture to the users, impose a technology to improve security but gain some streamlining at the same time.
Mac,
Best stop for your Bahamas to NY trip is KILM. Unless things have changed in the last couple of years, it's an exception to the South Florida airports for first point of entry. Nice folks and no hassels. We used to use it on our Cayman to NY and Canada trips.
