Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

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dgger
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Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by dgger »

Yawl,

I realize this is a pretty specific question and I am not posting to a round the world forum, but I am hoping to find a seasoned international travellers willing to help out a rookie here.

I am planning a Germany to Mexico trip and was looking into international agreements with regards to fuel stops and overflying rights. My impression has always been that there was an international agreement in place (namely the Chicago Convention) that governs such rights. Among other things the ratifying parties agree as follows:

"Article 5

Right of non-scheduled flight

Each contracting State agrees that all aircraft of the other
contracting States, being aircraft not engaged in scheduled
international air services shall have the right, subject to the
observance of the terms of this Convention, to make flights
into or in transit non-stop across its territory and to make stops
for non-traffic purposes without the necessity of obtaining prior
permission, and subject to the right of the State flown over to
require landing."

My aircraft is registered in Germany (a contracting state). Since I intend to undertake a private flight I read this as "Unless I violate anything in this agreement I can transit airspace in other contracting states and make stops but not discharge or take on pax or cargo" (which I do not intend to).

When I turn to the AIPs of the other contracting States e.g. the one from the U.S. there appear to be a number of discrepancies. My reading of GEN 1.4 of this handy 1600 pager (https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publica ... ia/aip.pdf) is that all crew are required to be in possession of valid visa for the purpose of transiting unless they are crew of a commercial operator and will remain in the U.S. for less than 8 hours.

Now, that looks quite a contradiction to me. And while the U.S. serves as an example here, most states I have looked into appear to have crafted there rules the same way. Where is my mistake? What am I not getting?
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by robert63 »

I'm not quite sure what your question is.
Are you asking if you need a visa if you do nothing else than a fuel stop?
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by carym »

If you are coming from a foreign country (including Canada) and stop in the US, even for fuel, you will need to meet all the US Custom requirements. Ever since 9/11 it has become a pain, even for US citizens, to go between US and Canada. I suspect that if you were to stop in the US you will need to have a visitor visa stamped on your passport. If you were to just overfly the US without stopping, then you would not need anything other than ATC permission (assuming you are flying IFR).
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by Charles »

The aircraft can fly into the US without restrictions. For private flights, it's the passengers who can't, even for a short refueling stop.

But it's very simple, you'll see. If you are going to land in the US, all you need is:

- A passport for each passenger
- Pilot's license and valid medical certificate
- Aircraft registration
- Aircraft proof of insurance
- A visa for each citizen of a non-visa-waiver country (https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/ ... ogram.html)
- An I-94 form for each citizen of a country other than the US and Canada which needs to be filed prior to arrival in the US (https://www.cbp.gov/travel/internationa ... structions). This is becoming electronic and tied to air carrier manifests now so it is automatically generated for air travel, but I'm not sure that this automation extends to private flyers. If someone knows, I'm interested.
- A filled-out 6059B form for each family on board (https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files ... LISH_0.pdf)
- A customs decal for the calendar year in question which you can order ahead of time. The web site says you can buy it on the spot but I tried that once and the agent didn't know how to do that and he didn't have any stickers with him. It was not a pleasant conversation. (https://dtops.cbp.dhs.gov/main/# -- Click "private aircraft")
- An electronic passenger manifest which must be filed prior to takeoff (https://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/auth/login.ht ... is%2Flogin )
- A verbal authorization from Customs and Border Protection to land at your chosen airport of entry at a specific date and time. This authorization must be obtained with sufficient advance notice, which varies by airport (https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files ... le.doc.pdf)
- A flight plan

In addition, you must be in bilateral radio communication with ATC and squawking a discrete code (i.e. not 1200) at the time you cross the border. That's automatic if you're IFR but you need to be on flight following if VFR. And once at your destination, you must stay inside the plane until the customs officer is in sight.

Don't forget to file an outbound manifest and I-94s when leaving the country.

As you can see, the US makes every effort to provide a simple process for entering their country. :scream:

If you're flying through Canada, I can provide similar details about the formalities.
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by dgger »

Yes, you are all rightly pointing out that crews and pax needs visas for a fuel stop on a private flight. Charles, thanks for putting that list together. It is acuatlly even a bit worse than that as even crew and not just pax need valid visa - even those travelling from visa waiver countries.

My question is this: It would appear almost all countries in the world have agreed multilaterally to allow each others aircraft "to make stops for non-traffic purposes without the necessity of obtaining prior permission" (see Article 5 of the Chicago Convention). However, most countries have rules that seem to expressly violate this agreement. Now, either I am missing something, or I am reading the Chicago Convention wrong, or countries by and large just ignore an international agreement they ratified. Which one is it?
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by carym »

According to Wikipedia, the Chicago Convention applies to commercial flights. Since yours is not a commercial flight then I suspect the agreements mentioned don't hold. Just my guess.
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by Charles »

dgger wrote:It is acuatlly even a bit worse than that as even crew and not just pax need valid visa - even those travelling from visa waiver countries.
I stand corrected, thank you! I read a little more and in order to use the visa waiver program, the operator must be a signatory carrier. So you'll need visas for all non-US or Canadian occupants. It's a wonder how anyone can figure out what to do on their own given all the applicable regulations.
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by robert63 »

There is actually one possibility to avoid a B1/B2 visa for US.
You can fly to a Canadian airport close to the US border (i.e. CYAM). Then cross the border by car or just walk. Then you can go back and fly into the US with the stamp that you have in your passport.
You still need EAPIS and call the customs office at the airport of entry ahead and the decal and a flightplan plus proper documents. Don't forget to ask the officer that you call ahead for his initials, because this is the only proof that you did call him. If you don't call there is a fine of several thousand USD. After landing at the airport of entry taxi immediately to the customs office. We found all officers quite friendly and helpful as long as you follow the procedures.
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by carym »

robert63 wrote: After landing at the airport of entry taxi immediately to the customs office. We found all officers quite friendly and helpful as long as you follow the procedures.
Except when clearing customs at Port Huron, MI (KPHN). I have stopped there 3 times and have found that the officers have been, at best, uncooperative and at times been quite hostile and threatening.
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Re: Chicago Agreement / Fuel Stop / Confusion

Post by CFIDave »

Wow, I've flown internationally many times to Canada and the Bahamas + my new aircraft ferry flight from Austria to the US via Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. But as a US citizen I never once had to obtain a visa.

US citizens only need to do 3 things to fly back into our country:
1. file an ICAO-format flight plan
2. file an eAPIS manifest and wait for an email giving permission to enter the country
3. make a phone call to the US Customs Port of Entry (POE) at least 1 hour before arrival letting them know you're landing there.
(And yes, we have to show our passport, pilot's license, and current medical; and our plane must have a US Customs decal that must be renewed every year.)

But I'm amazed at the long list of items non-US citizens must have!

My favorite place to fly internationally is Canada, because all you do (besides filing a flight plan, and filing an eAPIS manifest) is call them at least 2 hours before arrival on the CANPASS number (you don't even need to sign up for the CANPASS service unless you want to land at a smaller non-POE airport). When you land in Canada you just call them back on the same phone number saying you've arrived. Nobody ever shows up to inspect you, your plane, or your documents -- it's all done via a phone call and they say "you're good to go!"
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