Charter info for France.

[petitepilot]

Hi,

Looking for info on do's and dont's when it comes to charter ops to France. I'm flying to LFPB and LFMN next month and knowing how the french can be, I would appreciate any heads up. Already know the crews need visas.
Thank you to anybody that can help.

 

[AMRAAM]

Goin' 2 France

DO expect a ramp check at LFPB. I've been through there 5 times in the last month and have been boarded twice! Both times they asked for different things, so make sure the a/c paperwork is in order. They like to see en-route notams, insurance papers, and even fuel receipts from other French airports?!? Once it took 1 hour (full inspection of exterior) and once it took 5 minutes (just paperwork). Never had a problem in LFMN or any other French airport. Also, no human has ever requested to see my VERY IMPORTANT crew Visa!! FBOs are pretty good, English is acceptable even to the fuel guys etc.. Have fun!

 

[Spooky 2]

DO expect a ramp check at LFPB. I've been through there 5 times in the last month and have been boarded twice! Both times they asked for different things, so make sure the a/c paperwork is in order. They like to see en-route notams, insurance papers, and even fuel receipts from other French airports?!? Once it took 1 hour (full inspection of exterior) and once it took 5 minutes (just paperwork). Never had a problem in LFMN or any other French airport. Also, no human has ever requested to see my VERY IMPORTANT crew Visa!! FBOs are pretty good, English is acceptable even to the fuel guys etc.. Have fun!

Take a look at the requirements for a SAFA inspection. You can Google it. Pretty much sums up the minimum requirements for the EU and especially France. Make sure that you can produce documentation for both the aircraft RVSM and your own initial or recurrent training documentation. LFMN is a great spot so it's well worth the hassle should it become a reality.

Enjoy

 

[TransMach]

Safa

Does any body have a good (actual) definition of "enroute notams" ??

I can guess, but would like to know the hard truth!

TransMach

 

[Spooky 2]

Does any body have a good (actual) definition of "enroute notams" ??

I can guess, but would like to know the hard truth!

TransMach

Well if you ask our planning service to provide you with wx and notams for the enroute portion of the flight, thats what you will get. Maybe a pound or more of data for that portion of the flight. Is there something that I'm missing here?

 

[petitepilot]

Thank you guys, some good points. I have now been to both LFPB and LFMN and no ramp checks. Maybe I was just lucky or maybe it was the 2:30 AM arrival in Paris that did it. Anyway, even though it was a bit hard to understand the French controlers at times it was a great experience. LFMN (Nice) was, like mentioned above, well worth it.
Now it's off to London and more adventure.
Thanks again!