GAR Notification or permission?

[Bill Scott]

Actually not a question.

The February edition of the LAA magazine has an excellent article about flying across to the Isle of Man. Mention is made about the formalities, including submission of a GAR form to the Polizei (SB).

I was surprised to read the note from our esteemed editor effectively endorsing the statement "Special Branch approval is required for flights to the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and Eire" (to which the Editor rightly adds the Channel Islands.)

Can we please make it clear to our members that the correct term is notification, rather than approval which suggests permission. There is a world of difference in those terms and we are suffering enough anti-terrorist hysteria in high places (excuse pun) without crediting the authorities with greater powers than they already have.

[Brian Hope]

Hi Bill, I would also not wish to give our authorities more power than they already have and accept that you are technically correct. The wording in the Terrorism Act 2000 does indeed say notify:

Where an aircraft is employed on a journey to which this paragraph applies otherwise than to carry passengers for reward, the captain of the aircraft shall not permit it to call at or leave a port in Great Britain or Northern Ireland unless -

a) the port is designated, or

b) He gives at least 12 hours notice in writing(G.A.R. form) to a constable for the police area in which the port is situated.(or where the port is in Northern Ireland, to a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland).

The long and the short of it is that you have to do it by law, it is not an optional requirement, and my experience here in the SE is that Special Branch is taking more interest of late and are tightening up on it.

[Steve Brown]

Flying for reward is covered in the preceeding para of the TA 2000
ie
Where a ship or aircraft is employed to carry passengers for reward on a
journey to which this paragraph applies the owners or agents of the ship or aircraft shall not arrange for it to call at a port in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for the purpose of disembarking or embarking passengers unless—
(a) the port is a designated port, or
(b) an examining officer approves the arrangement.

So it seems a flying instructor flying with a pupil to IOM / CI does need approval unless a designated port is used at both ends of the journey.

[JonKil]

I concur Brian.
As a regular visitor to Scotland and England from Southern Ireland via Northern Ireland I have to submit GAR reports.
I have had SB turn up on more than one occasion to "check me out" when I landed. They seem to have taken a more active front in the past 18 mts or so. The GAR is quite an easy form to submit, by the way, there is a new one issued last March, available on my website under the forms heading, see http://www.RuskeyAirfield.com you can also find the GAR form required for visiting Southern Ireland there too.

Regards,
Jon

[Bill Scott]

Brian, thanks for your prompt response.
Might I make a suggetion? This subject has been debated ad nauseum elsewhere and still the question of permission/notification keeps coming up. There have been instances of SB types declaring their power to authorise/refuse flights that qualify under the CTA arrangements.
Let's put it to bed sofar as the LAA membership is concerned by producing a small article in the next issue of the mag. ie; quote the legislation and then give a plain english translation.
As a society we face more and more legislation/regulation and need to make sure that we are aware of our rights and responsibilities. Whilst also recognising that this is a rather specialised bit of legislation, meaning that your average Peeler may not interpret it correctly in the heat of the moment