K35D to MYCA....advice?

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kevin7500

Pre-takeoff checklist
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kevin
We (me, my wife and 12 year old daughter) are going on vacation in June to Cat Island in the Bahamas. I am planning to fly us there myself. I expect to have my instrument ticket by May. The current planned course is direct to Daytona with one fuel stop along the way. Then down to West Palm Beach where I would turn heading to Freeport and follow the chain to Cat Island.

I know that I need an FCC license for the radio and I know that I need to land at a port of entry airport. I need to file a flight plan for the international portion. I need to depart from an international airport in the US.

I am hoping to be flying a Bellanca Super Viking (145 TAS) but may be in a Warrior II (not 145 TAS).

What else do I need to know?
 
Just out of curiousity, are you thinking of renting one of Dodgen's warriors for your trip to the islands?
 
Best source of all is AOPA's International Flying section and the Bahamas pages in that section.

To answer some specific questions...

I know that I need an FCC license for the radio
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The Bahamas do not require radio licenses. Technically, for this trip, the aircraft and operator radio licenses are required only to cross the US border, not to fly in either the US or Bahamas. Further, nobody on the US side ever checks. If you go beyond the Bahamas (like the Turks & Caicos), be prepared to have both aircraft and operator radio licenses checked.
and I know that I need to land at a port of entry airport. I need to file a flight plan for the international portion.
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You also must file an eAPIS departure and arrival notification before departing and before returning. AOPA has details on that. You must also phone the CBP office at your airport of US entry at least one hour prior to arrival -- and when you do, obtain the officer's badge number or initials as confirmation the call was made.

In addition, you must be in radio contact with an assigned transponder code when passing through the ADIZ. Again, AOPA covers this.

I need to depart from an international airport in the US.
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I'm not sure that's true, but if you stop at Fort Pierce (FPR), the FBO there is the world's expert on helping pilots unfamiliar with this whole process go in and out safely and legally. They have all the forms you'll need (ours and their) and can help you fill them out properly, as well as answering any questions you have based on their extensive experience operating back and forth to the Caribbean islands. For that reason, I recommend you make the jump from FPR rather than Palm Beach.
 
My advice:

Don't do it in a rental. :rofl:
 
I'm not done with the writeup yet (give me a break, it's only been 2.5 months!), but you can see our trip over there in November at http://www.aandmaviation.com/bahamas09.html. We took five aircraft and, ostensibly, a helicopter. (We never met up with the helicopter, and only have their word that they made it to Florida! :))

Ron pretty much hit it.
eAPIS is the big thing. File both ways before you leave. Plan to file IFR. You don't need to depart from a port of entry in the US (though you do in the Bahamas). Fort Pierce is a great jumping-off point. No one will check the radio telephone operator's permit (but I have one anyway, just in case). You should have a US Customs and Border Patrol annual sticker. We didn't have one affixed and they never questioned it. At New Bight (MYCB) we didn't even need to unload anything from the plane, don't know what to expect at Arthur's Town (MYCA). Most of their airports of entry have a blue phone that is preprogrammed with the USCBP phone numbers for typical ports of entry. Having said that, I don't remember seeing one at New Bight, but, since we were arriving there and not departing from there, we weren't looking.
 
When I was working on a potential trip of that sort, I contacted this guy:

http://www.caribbeanflyingadventures.com/

It's not the prettiest website, but the guy is very friendly and will gladly answer your questions. There's a subscription to his database that's something small like $25/year. It seemed worthwhile to me. I never ended up making the trip, though, so I have no first-hand experience as to whether or not any of his info is any good. :)

As to what plane to do it in? Well, I was going to do it in a Mooney that was over TBO on the engine. Take whatever you trust.
 
EdFred said:
My advice:

Don't do it in a rental. :rofl:
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And if you do, make sure you have a letter from the registered owner authorizing your use of the airplane. I flew the Cougar down to the islands some years ago, and it was owned by an LLC I formed and owned. Since it was the LLC's name on the registration, not mine, I had to write a letter as President of the LLC authorizing me to use the plane.
 
gprellwitz said:
You should have a US Customs and Border Patrol annual sticker. We didn't have one affixed and they never questioned it.
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The one I got for our Canadian trip last summer was in my wallet when we crossed the border, and it's still there. Note that some CBP airport offices have the stickers available for purchase on the spot, but you must call ahead to make sure they're in stock. Otherwise, try to order yours a couple of weeks ahead just to be sure.
 
Ron Levy said:
And if you do, make sure you have a letter from the registered owner authorizing your use of the airplane. I flew the Cougar down to the islands some years ago, and it was owned by an LLC I formed and owned. Since it was the LLC's name on the registration, not mine, I had to write a letter as President of the LLC authorizing me to use the plane.
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I've always wanted to ask: This is just one of those "feel good" things, right? I mean, the letter could have been from me claiming to be the President of the LLC and I imagine they'd have accepted it.

I'd be surprised to learn you brought, or they demanded to see, the articles of incorporation or current list of managers of the LLC to validate that the person who wrote the letter of permission had the authority to do so.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I've always wanted to ask: This is just one of those "feel good" things, right? I mean, the letter could have been from me claiming to be the President of the LLC and I imagine they'd have accepted it.

I'd be surprised to learn you brought, or they demanded to see, the articles of incorporation or current list of managers of the LLC to validate that the person who wrote the letter of permission had the authority to do so.
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This is Ron we're talking about, so I wouldn't be surprised! :) FWIW, I haven't had any letters with the two times I took rentals over the border, nor was I asked for them. Not to say it's a bad thing to have with!
 
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