CBP Private Air APIS Guide

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john smith

Pre-takeoff checklist
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john smith
As I read through this document, the question pops into my mind, "What idiot in our government wrote this how much are they being paid?"
This is truely another example of a bureaucracy without guidance that is doing things solely to justify its existence and making things up as they go along.

Anyone who has traveled to Canada and used the Canpass system knows how efficient and painless the process can be. An 800-number and a 10-minute telephone call and you are done and ready to go.
 
But that's because Canadian customs don't think of themselves as being concerned with catching incoming terrorists or illegal immigrants by air. Many times with CANPass I would call on arrival and be told to enjoy my visit - never seeing a Customs person. We've never been that relaxed in the US, even before 9/11.

None of the above contradicts your point about APIS being a waste, but CANPass is trying to satisfy a completely different set of requirements.
 
TMetzinger said:
But that's because Canadian customs don't think of themselves as being concerned with catching incoming terrorists or illegal immigrants by air. Many times with CANPass I would call on arrival and be told to enjoy my visit - never seeing a Customs person. We've never been that relaxed in the US, even before 9/11.

None of the above contradicts your point about APIS being a waste, but CANPass is trying to satisfy a completely different set of requirements.
Click to expand...
Maybe so, but what's the reason they're trying to focus on something else?

It may be that they've realized that they can't stop bad guys from entering the country. Instead, they might be focusing on intelligence....maybe we could learn that from them. That CBP program does nothing other than inconvenience the honest.

-Felix
 
The CBP program generates funding, because "security" is important.

Really, if we want things to change, the best thing we can do is vote against every incumbent in congressional elections for the next three cycles.
 
We have to file APIS for all of our international legs at work. Since we have three airplanes based in San Juan, PR for seasonal scheduled service and private charter, essentially every leg is international. While we file eAPIS through our scheduling software and receive receipt of each transmission with the correct data, US customs at SJU seems to have major issues with their computers, citing that we file things wrong all the time. A few weeks ago, they detained one of our passengers in secondary because they claimed an apostrophe was transmitted as a comma. As it turns out, it was completely their fault and our transmission was correct.

The whole thing reminds me of a Boston Legal rerun I watched last night where Denny Crane was stuck on the TSA no fly list and sued the DHS to get him off. Alan Shore's closing statement completely mocked the US government, but at the same time raised outstanding flaws in the system today. Instead of hiring the geniuses that are at the forefront of new technological innovations, the government doesn't and gets no where. He actually began his argument by stating "Did you know that you could fit as many as 20,000 songs on an iPod now? 20,000.....yet how is it that when Mr. Crane, a longstanding and respected citizen goes to check in for his flight, he shows up on the no-fly list."

Anyhow...to sum things up, welcome to my work day. eAPIS = problems.
 
TMetzinger said:
But that's because Canadian customs don't think of themselves as being concerned with catching incoming terrorists or illegal immigrants by air. Many times with CANPass I would call on arrival and be told to enjoy my visit - never seeing a Customs person. We've never been that relaxed in the US, even before 9/11.

None of the above contradicts your point about APIS being a waste, but CANPass is trying to satisfy a completely different set of requirements.
Click to expand...

Actually Tim, we were like that. US Customs had the GATE program, which was similar to the Canpass program, whereby private aircraft could clear into the US by telephone. This program was ended without notice or debate after 9/11 even though as you know a general aviation aircraft has never been used in a terrorist incident in the US.

The idea in Canada is that you don't need to inspect every single aircraft; that just the possibility of inspection will deter almost every criminal, since said criminal still has to provide all the information necessary for them to screen the flight before arrival. I can't think of a more stupid way to smuggle something into the US than by GA aircraft even under the current rules. Why do that when thousand of people run across the border every day? I think most Customs officers know this too, even if they won't say it out loud. After all, it's a much more pleasant day to see the handful of planes that show up at airports of entry than to sit in a booth at the border all day.

Jon
 
Jon,

I remember GATE, but I didn't think they ever let you call ahead, land at any US airport, call again and go on your way without seeing an inspector. Was this only from Canada?
 
TMetzinger said:
But that's because Canadian customs don't think of themselves as being concerned with catching any kind of criminal or suspicious-looking by air or running a dragnet. Many times with CANPass I would call on arrival and be told to enjoy my visit - never seeing a Customs person. We've never been that relaxed in the US, even before 9/11.

None of the above contradicts your point about APIS being a waste, but CANPass is trying to satisfy a completely different set of requirements.
Click to expand...

There, I fixed it for you.

If you look at the new Global Entry system (or Nexus or SENTRI) you'll find that they disqualify anyone with any kind of criminal record, no matter how small or how long ago. No exceptions.
 
Ron Levy said:
Here's where to go to learn how to use eAPIS: http://apps.cbp.gov/eAPIS-pa/. It sucks. Just logging in to the eAPIS site is enough for anyone with half a brain to use the system. https://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/
Click to expand...

It took me 3 tries to get an acceptable password and even then it rejected my application one more time just for the heck of it (I submitted again without changing anything since all I got from the prior attempt was warnings and no errors and it went through the second time unchanged).

Of course there's no mention of any such criteria when entering a pw for the first time.

password criteria said:
ERROR: Your password must be between eight and twelve characters in length and must begin with a numeric character and contain one of the following special characters: "~", "!", "@", "#", "$", "%", "^", "&", "*", "(", ")", "-", "_", "+", "=", "{", "}", "[", "]", "", "|", ";", ":", "/", "?", ".". Your sender id can not be part of the password, and no character can be repeated consecutively more than two times.
Click to expand...

Apparently they really want everyone to provide an alternate contact, but who would that be for a private pilot?

ePAIS warnings said:
WARNING: Please enter a fax number if you have one available.

WARNING: Please enter a last name for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a first name for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a middle initial for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter an e-mail address for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a telephone number for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a fax number for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a street address for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a city for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a state for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a ZIP/Postal code for the alternate POC if provided.

WARNING: Please enter a country of residence for the alternate POC if provided.
Click to expand...

And did anyone else bother to read the terms and conditions? One is that you must never ever write down your ID or password (under penalty of law?). Also noteworthy is that if their system goes down and you're stuck in some Mexican dive for two weeks it's not their problem and that they can shut you out of the system at any time for any reason if they feel like it. I also liked the part where you are in trouble if you manage to screw up their (obviously straighforward) signoff procedure after using the service and the requirement that every computer you use to access their site must be running current virus protection software. Just exactly how do they figure I'm going to accomplish that when using a 15 year old PC at an airport in Mexico????

Yeah, this is going to work out fine.
 
More good news.

From one part of the process:
Please return to the eAPIS Welcome page once you receive your e-mail confirmation.
You should receive your confirmation e-mail within 5-7 days
Click to expand...

For security purposes, the first time you use eAPIS or whenever you change your password, you will be sent a confirmation e-mail message containing a new activation key. To activate or re-activate your account, enter the activation key and select Activate. You have 7 days during which to activate your account before your activation key expires. If you do not know your activation key, or if it has expired, you will need to re-enroll with eAPIS.
Click to expand...

So you have to activate the account within 7 days using the activation key that they might get around to sending in 7 days. Lovely.
 
Government does nothing well and few things right. Need I say more?
 
well, I got my eAPIS ID today - pretty quickly after registering. Went in and pre-populated myself as crew. Then I went through the tutorials for filling in departure/arrival advisory information. Then I went and laid down. Then I went and modified my standard ferry contract to include a fee for all international operations to compensate me for this hassle, and may put in language requiring the client to pay any legal costs associated with the border crossing.

I think people in CARS should have to go through the same hoops when they drive to Mexico or Canada.
 
If you want a laugh sometime, check out the identification requirements to apply for an importation permit for food stuffs at the USDA. They wanted interview after interview, scientific studies, vets. on call... holy crap what a mess that was.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
TMetzinger said:
I remember GATE, but I didn't think they ever let you call ahead, land at any US airport, call again and go on your way without seeing an inspector. Was this only from Canada?
Click to expand...


The GATE program, RIP, applied only to US arrivals from Canada, and you couldn't land at just any airport, but there were over 235 US airports eligible in 38 states. You had to apply several weeks prior to the first use; both the pilot and aircraft were pre-screened by Customs. If approved, you could be cleared to enter the US with nothing more than a telephone call.

The Canpass Private Aircraft program still works this way--not the general Canpass procedure, but a more involved one that you apply and pay for, but gives many more options for Canadian entry.

Jon
 
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