 Our next presenter has been with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism for over 21 years and is currently the Chief Aviation Specialist. He's a graduate of Texas Tech University, a licensed pilot with approximately 800 hours. He's also a member of AOPA, the National Business Aviation Association, Florida Aviation and Trade Association, the Florida Arrow Club, and he is a coordinator for the Bahamas Aviation Council and the Bahamas monthly fly-in. It is really easy and it's fun to fly in the Bahamas. His topic today is flying in the islands of the Bahamas. Let's welcome Greg Roel. Good morning fellow pilots. I want to thank you pilots for coming this early this morning to hear me talk about how you could fly your aircraft safely to the islands of the Bahamas. You know, this past week mean a great week for us at the Sonofan booth and we had a lot of pilots who came by, got information that they wanted to fly the aircraft to the Bahamas. One guy came by and said, Greg, you know something, I got my license this year. I came to the seminar last year and I went to the Bahamas. And I think we need to tell the FA, anyone who does not fly to the Bahamas should take it back because it's too easy to go to the Bahamas. Well, again, thank you. My name is Greg Roel. I'm the Chief Aviation Specialist on flying to the islands of the Bahamas for the Ministry of Tourism. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism has basically put in place an aviation program and specifically basically to tell private pilots how they could fly to the Bahamas and enjoy our destination. The islands of the Bahamas have 700 islands, keys and rocks. And the Bahamas was an independent nation where we basically had, you know, independence from Great Britain in 1973. Now the Bahamas government has sent me here to make sure that we impart all the knowledge to you guys how to get there to and from the Bahamas. The Bahamas is a very short distance over water. From Bimini is 46 miles and to Grand Bahama Island is 60 nautical miles away. It's beautiful scenery, multiple airports, good facilities for general aviation traffic and easy customs and departure clearance for customs and immigration procedures and also no landing fee at government-owned airport. Fuel's cost is similar to that of the United States. Now let's go into a little deeper to say what the Bahamas government has done for general aviation traffic. The infrastructure and the logistics of general aviation, the government and the Bahamas know that when private pilots come to the Bahamas they want similar basically places where they can park their aircraft and actually enjoy the destination. One of the things that we in the Bahamas try to do our best to do is to make sure that the facilities that you are accustomed to over here when you park your aircraft at the Bahamas, it is safe and secure. One of the things that we are working on is, you know, in the last year we know that Homeland Security is now coming on stream with the NPRM. This is a new proposed rulemaking. Well, the Bahamas is being proactive in this event, fellow pilots. We are actually putting in place computers and internet access for all private pilots getting access to the internet prior to leaving the Bahamas to get back into the United States. So, yeah, we have our ears and eyes to the ground and we are listening to all the details that we need to find out what you need to fly to and from the Bahamas. Because it makes no sense to us for you to be able to get to the Bahamas and then to turn around and it's like almost like a nightmare to get back into the United States. It makes no sense to us, so we put these infrastructures in place and if we need to invest certain monies to make sure that they are there the government is intending to do that. One of the things so that we have put in place is the Bahama host program. People ask me, why do you have this program on this seminar? Well, basically the Bahama host program is a program where the Bahamians or residents in the Bahamas has access to basically to information. If you talk to any private pilot, any guest persons in the Bahamas about their country, they'll be able to speak intelligently to you about it. But more importantly, we need to sensitize persons in frontline tourism rather than customs, immigration, the hotel worker, the tourism official, the taxi driver person. Any person who you may encounter on your travels through the Bahamas we sensitize them to why you are here. Because it makes no sense for them to taxi drive all the way or even to braid out the straw market. You go to the straw market and they don't treat you with respect. You don't need to come back to this destination. And one good thing, and I always use this example, since 9-11, in the Bahamas we have this thing saying, when the U.S. sneeze, we catch the call in the Bahamas. Only 46 miles away, things change. So after 9-11, the FA grounded all traffic, especially all VFR traffic. And lo and behold, the Bahamas Academy suffered as a result. The custom officers asked, Greg, where's the pilots? I said, if I send them to you guys, are you going to take care of them? Because you know, we've been working on some details on how we can get VFR open as quick as possible. So during that logger period, the Bahamas were virtually empty. They have no traffic. So the majority of the payments on residence in the Bahamas saw what we were talking about. If you guys didn't come, we must have closed down because we have no oil, no minerals, no diamonds, nothing that we could rely on other, really, banking. So we rely heavily on tourism. So now this course, the Bahama host course, tells the nation, tell all the residents why U.Private pilots are important to us. And with that, they take care of you. So if you go to the Bahamas now, you'll see a change of attitude, a change of welcoming attitude where residents of the Bahamas love and want to see you in our country. Phones are part of entry. Again, the Bahamas government has invested to put phones. If you look to the right, upper right, you see the blue phones. That's AOP representative there. Blue phones are all part of entry. And these phones are put in place for you, the private pilots. Here again, these phones are released by Bahamas Customs. So no other visitor could go to these phones and make a phone call and say, this ensued me and the dog coming home later on. No, only for private pilots because you have a speed dial. So you press certain numbers. It goes directly to U.S. Customs. So you can tell them if ETA coming back into the United States. Radio coverage. The Bahamas government is working feverishly to make sure that we have in place good radio coverage. So that when you dial, when you call a 122.4 NASA radio, you get 122.4, 128.0. It's important to close the flight plan to get weather briefing and so forth and so on. So we put it out in place. The Bahamas, you will see that we have a big welcome sign saying the islands to the Bahamas welcome private pilots. Night flying to the Bahamas is something that we're working on to make sure that we bring up the speed because a lot of time pilots want to come to the Bahamas, but they, let's say, come from New York. They want to come down to the Bahamas, but the time they get down to Fort Lauderdale is nightfall. And in the Bahamas, you cannot fly to the family islands after dark. Only Nassau on Grand Bahama Island. Most pilots who don't want to go to Grand Bahama or Nassau or Partis Island, they want to go to the out island. So the government is now looking at ways of making that happen. And one of the good things to, we have changed from IKO to FAA. And this is a good change because the International Similar Aviation Organization now is under the FAA. So all the rules and regulations that new pilots are accustomed to here in the United States, we now have the same ability for you here in the Bahamas. And this is a mock of all of the communication remote outlets. These outlets in the Bahamas where there are repeaters that will make sure that when you dial Nassau radio, you'll be able to get Nassau radio. So if you look at the Bahamas, we are now putting them throughout the islands to make it increasingly easy for you to access this information. Also, you need to look, one thing to bear in mind, because God was so good to the Bahamas and blessed us tremendously. There's only 46 miles, so Miami Center and Miami Radio could cover the whole Bahamas. So you actually could fly your aircraft from Fort Lauderdale and go all the way down to, let's say, Long Island and Cat Island and still be talking to Miami Center. In fact, that happened a year ago where some friends of mine from AOPA went down to Long Island and they collaborated about 7,000 feet. They put in a thing, 127.2, and was able to get clearance, an IFR clearance back into Fort Lauderdale. When the Fort Lauderdale came back and said, Mississippi 101, you're cleared to Fort Lauderdale 311 miles south of Fort Lauderdale Airport. Now, fellow pilots, that is extremely a safety and a welcome relief, because you could speak into someone that you're accustomed to here and all the time and feel comfortable with it, and you're in the Bahamas. So that's another plus for us. What's that? The frequencies. Yeah, you could call my office and we could send one on O2. Now, people look at this and they say, there's have to be a painting, because there's no way we have seen this information, seen this type of layout. Fellow pilots, I could say, this is the same how the United States, parts of the United States were in the 17th century before the Plymouth came. But now in the Bahamas, there's this kind of nature for you. So you could go to this kind of island. Now, in the back there, it could be an airport strip. And just to be about private pilots, you have access to getting to this type of islands. Now, commercial air traffic will not go to this island because it's the smallest air strip, only 3,000 feet, maybe 4,000 feet tops, but you, fellow pilots, have the access to get to that. Now, we'll talk about some general information. We'll talk about government airport. I'm going to talk about government airport. That means the airport is owned and operated by the Bahamas government, and all pilots are welcome. We also have private airports. Now, when I say private airports, the other man is restricted. It's just private because it's owned by maybe a hotel property or some private investor. But most pilots are welcome to that. You're going to, during this conversation this morning, we'll talk about ports of entry. Ports of entry is basically where we have immigration and Bahamas immigration and Bahamas custom facilities to actually officially clear you into the country. When you come to the Bahamas, your first stop must be cleared at the port of entry. Once you have completed that first stop and you cleared Bahamas customs and immigration, you're free to travel to any island that does not have custom facilities on the property. And then, as we talked in the book and also John O'Brout of it that you'll hear on the DVD later on this afternoon, later on in a few minutes, the hardest part of flying is to get from where we are, from Minnesota, New York, wherever down to Dessie Lakeland. That's why we intrigue all private pilots prior to try to get the word out as much as we can. When you're coming down to Sun and Fun, bring your passport, and so you can add on a trip to the Bahamas because since you're down so close to the Bahamas and you did all that hard work to get down here, getting to the Bahamas is just a snap. Now what do I do to actually get to the Bahamas? Well, one of the things the FAS has noted that each aircraft must have N numbers and these N numbers, the 12 N numbers. And this is because when you cross the AEDAS, this is an imaginary line around the United States, when you cross the AEDAS, the authorities want to see the N number clearly. I mean, most persons in the United States, it's not required to have 12-inch N numbers, but coming across the AEDAS, they want to see and they don't want to even mistake the numbers. It's clearly visible, the numbers that they require, that's what they want going across the AEDAS. There's no need to depart from a port of entry. So let's say we leave it from here from Lakeland. You do not need to go to Orlando where they have U.S. Customs or Tampa, but you just go directly. And no, you do not need to call U.S. Bahamas Customs to say that I'm coming into the country. Now, you must need to file an international flight plan. Now, when it's an international flight plan, international, that basically means that we are going to the international destination. But the fact of the matter is, it's the same international flight plan that maybe you're accustomed to. One added feature, they may ask, you may be a name on persons on board. But if you're going on, if you're going on to Alemurado, or someplace in the Keys, or Miami, or when you're going to the cross BS page, it's the same kind of flight plan. So you don't get along by international flight plan. Now, Piles asks me that, can I take my firearms? And the answer is absolutely yes. Now, the thing is, I must question a few points here. It's that one. You should, prior to going to the Bahamas, you should go to U.S. Customs and say, I'm taking my firearms to the Bahamas. And this is only a procedure that will help you on re-entry. Because once they know that you went and you told them that you were taking your firearms, when they come back, you should have no problem because you already talked about it. Secondly, you must disclose the amount of firearms, the rounds that you have on your firearms. So these two things are something that you could do to make life easy for you. And then once you get to the Bahamas, you also do the same thing on that end. The Custom Decal Sticker must be purchased for all aircraft traveling in and out of the country. And this is something that's regulated by U.S. Customs. And for further information, you could go to our website. You go to our website too because we also have a link there. You can go to U.S. Customs website and get more information on that. Now, in the Bahamas, Bahamas Customs really rare asks you for your license, your medical, aircraft registration, and so forth. But by no means you must not have them because coming back into the States, U.S. Customs will require those documents. So we still need to have them on board. See, in the Bahamas, we try to make it so laid-back and easy as possible for you to actually get from your aircraft through Customs on the beach with the Bahama mamas as quick as possible. So some of the information that we know that you have, we don't need to even ask them for it because we know you have it, because for a person, for a pilot to come to the Bahamas with all the pilot license, all the medical and all these other things, and they say they're coming for the weekend and you don't have it. And you know, even when you fly automatically, you must have the money on your possession. It's ludicrous to even try it. So we just put this in here just for safety precaution. But in the Bahamas, we don't take you all through all these procedures. Now, in route to the Bahamas, each person on board will need an approved LifeS. Now, LifeRaf is not required, I told pilots, if you feel comfortable and if your wife feels comfortable with a LifeRaf in the aircraft, by all means, please put one there. Now, once you have taken off from Lakeland, let's say if you head on to the Bahamas, you must activate the flight plan. And you activate the flight plan with Miami Radio or St. Pete's Radio. And they will activate the flight plan to head towards the Bahamas. You don't need to stop on the East Coast. You don't even need to stop at all. Just stop to the first part of entry in the Bahamas. If you're going to Exuma, you could go directly to Exuma. There's no need to stop in route. Now, prior to reaching the destination, you must close your flight plan. And again, this is only for VFR traffic. And we realize that many of our pilots fly VFR to the Bahamas. So this is the information for VFR. VFR traffic, there's no need to open because it's automatically on a flight plan. Once you get clearance, everything is automatic for you. Now, if you're unable to close your flight plan in the air, you remember we talked about the blue phones that are designated for pilot pilots. Those blue phones will automatically help you assist you closing the flight plan. And one good thing about this, if you forget and you get to the hotel, you could automatically dial WX brief and then they will, you know, you'll get Miami Radio and then close your flight plan. So that also is an added boost for you. And the Bahamas is very simple. Clarence, we have a form called a C7A form. This form, the Bahamas government has made increasingly easier for you to clear. There's no need for no transire. And there's no need to get a cruising permit because the C7A is built in your declaration, general deck, and also your cruising permit. Now, since 9-11, we add a few more points. So now within the next couple new forms that we have now on stream, we'll have a person's name and a passport number and so forth and so on. But the C7A is all the form you need to get into the Bahamas. Now, getting for immigration, you only need an immigration card. And these forms could be picked up upon arrival. But the C7A is on our website. It's flying.Bahamas.com. And you could go there. You could download these forms and print them out and have them prepared well in advance prior to getting into the Bahamas. And also in the back of the room, we have some booklet called the Part of Guide Procedures. They have the forms in there as well so that you could use basically to open up, make life easy for you guys to fill out those forms. And again, you could go to King Coast and Syrox those forms. So it doesn't have to be the original. You could just go ahead and get it done. And this is a copy of the C7A form. Again, remember, one of our first things is that the Bahamas, you need to line up the Port of Entry. And again, the Port of Entry is where they have customs on immigration in the Kaleu and the country. And you must close your flight plan upon landing in the Bahamas. Now, you need to present your pilot license, approval citizenship. And again, I'm stressed now that we need to ensure that pilots have their passport. And there's no longer, you could use your pilot license with a photo ID. We must have a passport. And this is a Homeland Security procedure that they put in place just lately. And present the three forms to Bahamas customs. One form of the immigration card and fellow pilots, that's with all you need to actually clear Bahamas customs in the Bahamas. That's great to ask. Is that just an individual thing? No, okay. What he said, he asked for an arrival report. Now, an arrival report is basically a procedure that Nassau and Grand Bahama Island has put in place. And this is basically put in place for the, I guess, a cross check to make sure that persons pay landing fees and tie down fees and et cetera, et cetera, and so on and so on. But that is something that is really prepared in Nassau and Grand Bahama Island. Now, again, I mentioned 65%, almost 70% of private pilots, they prefer to go into the out islands. An out island is basically, if you look at our map and you take the eraser and you erase Nassau and you erase Grand Bahama Island, everything that remains is that is the out island. Because the procedure is very limited. We spend more time on the islands and then plus the islands where you could go and you don't see as many persons. And we saw that picture early on where it's like almost a new climate in the 17th century. That's the way the out islands look. Of course, now, if you go south, if you go to the Bahamas, it's more rustic and more laid back and more relaxed. But then if you go to the Mars Shop and trash the key, or maybe Naughty Lutra, you'll basically, you'll have a little more nightlife. But again, like John O'Brother said and the thing, you bound to find an island you like. So if you go to one of these islands and you do not like this island, it's just too busy for me. Try another island. If you have 700 of those islands, so you bound to find one. Welcome to the Bahamas. Now, let's talk about landing. Landing in the Bahamas. Now, Nassau and Freeport, we have the control towers. So 25 miles out, you will contact tower, you'll contact approach. An approach will give you landing instruction. Of course, you know, in Nassau and Grand Barm Island, we have ILS approaches. So they will be vector to those approaches if you want to do an ILS approach. Now, if you're just coming to VFR, you still need to contact them 25 miles out and they will give you all the procedures for landing. But again, we're talking about the out islands. And the out islands has the uncontrolled airports. And these airports does not have a tower. In fact, some airports don't have any facilities at all. If you go to some remote island, they have no facilities. That's the landing strip. So what do I do as a pilot getting into these islands? One of the things that we suggest, and we highly recommend, that you announce the aircraft, the identification, the location and your intention. And these are very critical fellow pilots because you could fly in not aware of aircraft in the surrounding area. And lo and behold, because you're coming to zero nine, so you might even see all these traffic around you and everybody coming to the same spot. So once you announce this information on 122.8, which is the unicom frequency which everybody used, they will know exactly some of the traffic is in the area. And fellow pilots, I must say, pilots coming and using this approach are being very, very sympathetic towards it because they realize that it saves lives. And it makes sense because pilots on the ground will also give you weather, traffic advisory, and because today for me, tomorrow could be someone else. So everyone is a brother keeper. In the Bahamas, the MSL is 1,000 feet and all traffic is left on. And one of the things I like to add here is that landing in the Bahamas, you know, you should take off into the wind and land into the wind. Now, that may sound, you say, but that's common sense and everyone knows that. But you know, in the islands, sometimes pilots become a little time conscious and say, you know, I don't need to go. It's going around. And you know, I'm flying a big, heavy iron here and I could have the power to do what I need to do, you know. And the wind is light and variable, you know. And that could be avoided. It saves lives if it makes fuller procedures. And we encourage all pilots to take off into the wind. Now, I'll give you some picture about the islands flying and who could actually tell me which island is that? Not Mr. Parker because he knows what it is. But so anyway, this is an airstrip landing in the Bahamas and this is basically Normans' Quay. And fellow pilots, it looks like it's a painting, but take my advice, it's Normans' Quay. And after this, to show that maybe it's afternoon, you'd be able to all go to the Bahamas and just verify this. And this is a picture of Bimling, Bimling, not Bimling. I'm thinking of these pilots. I'm showing you a couple of these photos because these are pictures that only private pilots see. If you're taking a commercial flight, you're looking out through the side window, only unless they parallel it, you could see it. But you could look like if you're looking over there straight ahead, you could see exactly this kind of view. And if you like it, you could take a second look at it again. You could come around and look at it again. The whole thing is that we have a special privilege being pilots and you work hard to get your license and you did good to keep it. And I want to show you how to use it and enjoy it. This is in the place of Walker's Quay. Walker's Quay is closed, but we have a customs there. And once the new owners renovate the hotel, it will be opened up very, very soon. But these islands are uniquely different. And I put this in there because these are, like I said, no other person visited could see. I mean, no other person who's going on the USA and American Eagle could talk about this. They don't go there, you know? And again, once you're landing and do all those landing procedures and welcome to the Bahamas, you're free to enjoy the Bahamas. And this is a beach in Namaski. And we have similar beaches through the islands. Now, we talk about experimental. Experimental owners, they talk about Greg. Talk about us. We want to see, we want to enjoy the Bahamas, too. But I'm happy to say that the Bahamas government has put in place a standard violation where experimentals could come to the Bahamas prior to now, experimentals set a call, Bahamas elevation, and get approval each time they want to come to the Bahamas. And of course, you know, if you do that every time and your fellow pilots who are 172, you just go straight on over. You know, you feel like you, they don't really want me here. Well, those days are gone and no longer. Priorit pilots are welcome for experimental. You just need to come on in. And these are some of the procedures which is standard, standard, you know, special reciprocate, your licenses and, you know, operating limitations on board. These are things you have already. So just bring me the plan and come on and enjoy our country. And again, these are the kind of things that you could do with prior pilots in the Bahamas to enjoy the destination. The Bahamas control of customs. Pilots came back and said, Greg, you know, I was at Exuma and he charged me overtime. And one pilot said he chugged me overtime. The next pilot said he charged me overtime. It becomes so, so a regular patent that I went to the control of customs. He was in charge of Bahamas customs. He was responsible for collecting those fees for overtime charges. And I told him, I said, there's a problem. You know, I go to the shows and we say inside our manual that there's no overtime charges. But yet when they go to Bahamas customs, they charge him. So we want to eradicate and put a stop to this. We have a zero policy on overtime charges. So the controller custom put it in black and white because no overtime charges whatsoever will be levied towards the private pilots coming for pressure. And the reason why is a toss-up because pilots who come for, let's say charter and if you pay a charter person to fly to the Bahamas and you go after hours or you go on holidays and so forth, they charge the operator of that charter overtime charges. So it's like a little gray area. And then a lot of times pilots, they won't be a charter but you will see them carrying people over every day and say, you know, I'm a private pilot and they almost have a schedule. And if you ask the person who they bring, they really don't know what I'm going to say. And if you ask them and they want to be honest, they will say, yeah, this man charged me XYZ. Well, that's, we have all kinds of things. That's one aspect of it that happens in the Bahamas. So Bahamas customers seeing this, they say we need to charge the person overtime. But for you fellow pilots who come for pressure, there's absolutely no overtime charges. And also there's no landing fees for private planes under 6,000 pounds. But this is only at government airport. And if you go to the private F-strip, their landing fees will be applied. And we talked about the private F-strip where it's on operated by the hotel is and so forth. And also in the booklet that we have in the back of the room, there are a list of all airports that are private and all airports that our government own. Again, there's no overtime charges whatsoever, whether if it's multi single engine or not. Once you're coming for pressure, there's no overtime charges. There's also no time-down fees at any government-owned airport. And again, I can relate here that you go to some islands. There are persons who are sitting on the sidewalk that want to assist you in tying on your plane. Now they would bring their own ropes. And if there happens to be a tie-down in place, they may be looking for a tip or something like that. But the government is in pursuit of trying to get tie-downs in place. Now once that has become available, we will be now hiring a company that will put tie-downs in place just to security for your own aircraft. And when that comes, I think this may change. Listen to the islands of the Bahamas. We talked about fuel. And, you know, fuel is very expensive now and one pilot came by and he made a joke at the booth and he said that he used to travel on to Barbados and Trinidad and Muda and stuff, you know. But he said, with the cost of fuel being so expensive as it is, he said, I'm just going to stay in the Bahamas, you know. But the fuel in the Bahamas is not on all islands and they are not on all ports of entry. But fuel is never more than 20 minutes away or flying time from each fuel stop to another stop, no more than 20 minutes flying time away. And I think that we are seeing a major surge in pilots coming to the Bahamas. In fact, the numbers of private pilots coming to the Bahamas is up almost like 5%. And fellow pilots, as that number continues to grow, we will see more business opportunities for fuel operators who want to put fuel in place to accommodate you guys. So we are seeing more fuel operators open up. More FBO persons open up. So as you, the private pilot public, come to the Bahamas, we will see this being put in place. We talked about night flying that is only in Nassau and Grand Bahama Island. And the thing is, fellow pilots, when you're flying at night, in the Bahamas has a law that you must be IFR rated to fly at night. And you know, when I first got my license, I was under the notion, I said, you know, why is it that they have quite required IFR? I have my private and I get to fly at night. But fellow pilots, I must say, when you're flying to the islands with no arising at night, you don't know which way is up. And if you want to feel the effects from that, let's go in the Tampa Bay area, in the Tampa Bay and head towards, head west at night. And let's go fly for a minute or two where you can see no one pitched up and you will see why the Bahamas government put that in place. And this is for your own safety and security. Now maintenance and repair, this is something that the pilot wants to know that if they go to the Bahamas to enjoy an island destination, vacation, that they have access to repair and maintenance. Now we have maintenance in Nassau, Grand Palm Island, Exuma, Lutra, and maybe some of the smaller islands, but they're sporadic. But we also have Bynin, who is also a corporate industry partner that is willing to dispatch the aircraft to the Bahamas in the event that you have problems in the Bahamas. Runway Length in the Bahamas, just so you're flying the pilot's horse axe, what is the runway length in the Bahamas? Now in the back of the room, we also have the pilot's guide and the airport information page. We have a listing of all airports and it tells you the runway. So you don't need to guess or figure out which land is the runway. And the average runway length in the Bahamas is 5,000 feet. Good thing about the Bahamas being so close to the United States, we have the WX brief, and this is also critical for flying in and around the islands. Weather in the Bahamas is similar to that of South Florida. If you don't like it, just sit around for a minute or two. It'll change, you know. Okay, let's talk about now we had enjoyed the Bahamas, had a good time, and it's time to get back home. What do I do? First, you must depart from the port of entry. And again, we talk about port of entry being the US-Bahamas customs and immigration declared outside the country. You almost file an international flight plan. Again, this flight plan could be filed after 24 hours in advance. And you could file it from your hotel or you could get to the blue phone at the airport and you could file a flight plan. Also, you must call US customs and advise them of the ETA. Now, this is a new procedure that US customs... Really, it's not really new, but they have enforced it even more. And US customs require that you must go to a line-line and call US customs telling them of the ETA. And fellow pilots must say that the Bahamas government has stepped up to the plate and said, I want to be... I want to help in this regard. So you don't need to look for your cell phone and say, I can't get... frequency. It's no place for me to call or go to a paid phone and you're unable to get the right currency to make that call. You go to the blue phone and the blue phones are free. So in the back of the book, in the pilot's guide, we have the numbers for all US customs facilities on the East Coast. So what you just pressed the number and would automatically go into US customs and then you could give them your information. Also as a backup to... let's say you go to the Bahamas and we have a deal with Bahamas telecommunication that if you are unable to get access to the blue phone at the airport, you could look around at any paid phone in the area. In that book, there's the numbers of US customs facilities throughout the US, throughout the Florida area. You dial 1305 plus the numbers at any paid phone and that number will go through and this is only for those numbers that are listed for US customs. So if you dial 305, like you dial your home number, it will not go through but those are the backup things that we have in place. We are committed to having your business and we are very committed to keeping your business. So that's why we put these small things in place for you. US customs require that... Bahamas customs require that you put in place one C7. Remember we talked about a C7A coming in? It's a C7 to leave the Bahamas and also you turn in one of your immigration card. Immigration will give you a copy of that immigration card when you arrive. You fill out the form and it's two-part. They give you the original and they give you a copy. So they retain the original and they give you the copy. Now when you leave in the Bahamas you must return that copy to them and also we say show copy of your flight plan. We've been having the last couple of maybe four years or two we've been having a lot of pilots who just forget to file a flight plan. You know I mean it was so easy that they really forgot. And then when they get back to the United States they you know US customs are fine because you did not file a flight plan. So to avoid all those problems and also cross check, we ask that you show a flight plan. Now of course when you go to the out islands Bahamas customs might even ask you for this to attack you, the prior pilots, to the destination. And also each person over the age of six years old must pay a Bahamas government departure tax. Again, once you take off you must act with your flight plan and you act with NASA radio 128.0 or 124.2 or if you climb high enough you could automatically just go straight to Miami radio and get activate the flight plan. Also, persons who want flight following flight following is accessible by NASA radio or if you're like I say if you climb high enough you get US Miami radio and they give you a flight following from wherever destination to the US coast. Upon entering the United States again we talk about the imaginary line of eighties. Any persons who go and cross that eighties who does not have approval the whistle and bells goes off and then you know you make the Air Force really nervous and all of a sudden you see an F-16 jet on the side of you and they will not be in a happy mood. So to avoid this one was called Flight Service Station and said I need a VFR code to get back in the United States and this is only for VFR traffic you don't need to call if you're on an IFR ticket and they will give you a flight VFR code of 12 whatever else after that but this saves the day and it's easy and it just makes life easy for all of us. And then upon arriving to the US shores you must close again the fence where you go these frequency normally change and again if you're unable to clear it in there once you get on the ground WX brief you could close the flight plan and this is very important you must land at the first part of entry you know coming back to Lakeland you must land at Fort Pierce or if you're coming on to the southern part Fort Lauderdale or Miami and then come up to Lakeland you cannot clear here in Tampa now you could clear if you ask for approval and it was granted prior to your flight but you cannot get it in route once you're on the ground you just get your bikes open all the doors and take your luggage into the custom hall Customs require that you fill out a general deck and in the back of the book also in the back of the room in the Bahamas book there is a custom general deck for you fellow pilots believe it or not that's your round trip to and from the US now what I'm going to talk about right now before we watch the video is the Bahamas flying now you know pilots sit in the room and say Greg I listen to you talk about all these different things that you getting the procedures for water and so forth but I'm still apprehensive of doing it on my own but fellow pilots the Bahamas government has put in place a program called the Bahamas flying and these Bahamas flying is just to tell you how easy it is to fly to the Bahamas what we do we leave from the US coast on a Friday to the Bahamas every month and I walk you through the procedures that you will need to fly in and out of the Bahamas as a pilot myself I will show you how it's done and then once we get to the Bahamas we will have persons, government officials in the Bahamas to welcome you and we have cocktail parties on Friday night and also on Saturday night to make you feel welcome so when we have the camaraderie with other pilots you're able to share stories and if you drink the cocktails you start telling lies a bit you know but the thing is we welcome you to the Bahamas so once you're there on this flying if you encounter a problem that problem becomes my problems and I will fix that for you so this is easier for us to make sure that you fly in and out of the Bahamas so I just cut it short so now we're going to see a video because we only have about 10 minutes more to go and then we can ask some questions about some giveaways there's a smaller group but we have a lot of giveaways 6 giveaways that we want to give you guys for coming so we're going to watch the video right now and I want to thank you guys for putting it hello I'm John Obradovich my wife and I published the Bahamas and Caribbean pilots guide first let's just say that when you fly to the Bahamas the hardest flying you'll do is when you go from where you live to Florida there's no terrain and weather when you get to the Bahamas there is no terrain the highest point is 200 feet above sea level and the weather is almost always ideal it's 44 miles from the shoreline to the first island which is Bimini and from Bimini on there's virtually an island in sight all the time there's large land masses as well as there's small islands but you always seem to have land in sight and an island in sight visiting the islands of the Bahamas you must file a US international flight plan before departing the US and your first point of arrival in the Bahamas must be at an airport of entry each person aboard the aircraft must have proof of citizenship a passport or birth certificate keep your aircraft registration available and check that your aircraft insurance policy extends to the Bahamas most do all airplanes must have a mode C transponder 12 inch registration numbers on the plane and one US Coast Guard approved life jacket for each person life rafts are suggested but not required vests and optional life raft equipment can be inexpensively rented at most FBOs in South Florida at typical cruise altitudes radio reception is fine speaking with the choice of Miami or Nassau radio Nassau approach, Mooney 888 Echo Fox truck 888 Echo Fox, go ahead I'm going to cancel flight file reports in a second Hi, I'm Craig Payton, producer of this DVD flying out here is easy and the radios work fine both Bahamas approach and Nassau center have remotes throughout the islands customs is a no brainer you land, you fill out a C7A form once you get stamped then you're free to island hop until you leave the country offshore weather is usually good VFR because of the Gulfstream's moderating influence the weather generally remains in the 70s and 80s year round for trouble free navigation GPS is your best bet with VORs and ILS approaches in Freeport and Nassau it can get a little breezy out here in the islands and I've also found from water to land you have to consider wind shear I carry a little bit of extra speed on final I don't try to plant the plane right on the numbers upon arriving you must land at an airport of entry the first time you enter the islands normal hours for customs are 9am to 5.30pm clearing customs is no problem all you do is fill out the Bahamian immigration card one per person and four copies of the C7A form with this single permit you can island hop with ease the Bahamian government has developed a private pilot's bill of rights no landing fees for single engine private planes under 6,000 pounds no overtime customs and immigration fees for private aircraft visiting for recreational purposes and no tie down fees at any government owned airport the islands of the Bahamas begin 55 miles off the Florida coast and are made up of 700 islands 30 of which are inhabited covering a vast area of 100,000 square miles Avgas is currently available at 9 airports in the islands you are never more than 20 minutes flying time away from fuel Avgas prices are similar to Florida's FBOs throughout the country Marsh Harbor, Freeport, NASA but also I carry a card from FBOs in Florida Banyan for instance will send a Cherokee with a mechanic to your location if you need repairs in a hurry and that's nice to know when departing surrender your copy of the immigration card and pay departure tax of $15 per person you must file an international flight plan with WX brief or NASA radio in the air before takeoff you are required to contact US Customs at your airport of entry at least one hour before arrival notifying them of your exact arrival time a phone call is the only way to comply once in the air you must contact Miami radio 15 minutes before penetrating the ADIZ just past Bimini Hi I'm David Grantham from the United States Customs and Border Protection in New Orleans also this year I'm the chair-elect of the International Federal Pavilion here at Oshkosh one of the places we enjoy going is the Bahamas and a lot of us are always a little apprehensive about clearing customs into or out of the Bahamas this year if you're going to travel make sure you make your one hour call to the US Custom Service prior to coming back into the United States and we assure you we don't want to hold you up clearing customs back into the States and have as much paperwork done as possible greet the customs officer and we'll get you through as quick as we possibly can thank you the Bahamas.com website has a very informative section under activities flying there you'll find important phone numbers tips and questions answered another popular way to experience the islands the Bahamas tourist office has incorporated fly-in the fly-ins provide for and sports activity rates flying over water I don't see there's any more dangerous or troublesome than flying over the land you gotta play you gotta play ground over here it's very easy feel free to call the Bahamas tourist office at 800-327-7678 anytime so fly on over and we'll see you in the islands thank you ready to go in the back room we have these booklets and these are the pilot's guide so feel free to pick them up and answer all the questions FAQs right now I'll ask some questions call customs and get a code number I assume that's a transponder code yeah okay it's two different things one you call customs letting them know that's ETA really going to come back into the country and also in this booklet you have all the information that you will require the customs require to get back into the country and it's just to verify number of poisons on board, aircraft and so forth and so on the second one is once you're getting ready to cross the ATIS you want to get a VFR squad code those are two different things so you switch from one code to the other the first one is not a code the first one is this information that you're given to US customs and they write it down and they will give you a code maybe the first and last initial and that will just let them know that on board the aircraft there's about five persons and they're all American and so forth and so on aircraft registration number aircraft name of the pilot number of passengers who are a US citizen last point of departure estimate time of arrival and the name of port of entry and landing port those there's a couple of questions they just want to make sure that aircraft that information they have it on their files alright thank you but I tell you that's a good question I'll give them one of those thanks for that pretty good now any more questions we want to give away some stuff now we talked about ILS approaches now on which islands the ILS approaches are okay now let's go to Bahamas okay now we talked about the experimental coming to the Bahamas so the experimental has to call do they call and get the information or they could just come directly into the Bahamas how do we do it? just directly now that's good we talked about the closest destination to the coast of Florida which island what's the amount? okay if she go over there okay let's push right here Bimini 46 nautical miles 46 nautical miles you can't beat it okay now we talked about going to the sorry we talked about going to the Bahamas in order to clear Bahamas customs coming into the Bahamas what do we need? okay okay you need a passport an urchinier C7A what does he need the clear what does he need you said a passport C7A something else you need to make it legal immigration it's basically you need to fight a flight plan yeah you need to have it let's give them one let me pick one over here okay tell me yes or no do in fact I'm going to be nice today the only female in the room I'm going to let her have a bike you know fellow pilots it is disgustingly easy to fly to the Bahamas and I think the Bahamas government is doing some work in terms of trying to get you guys to fly to the Bahamas safely so I also tell pilots if you fly to the Bahamas and encounter a problem please let us know because the only way we could fix these problems is because you tell us and we go and we fix it because time to time things are going to happen we have 700 islands you know the belief these 700 islands it's a hard job so the hard work is being done already the government of the Bahamas want to see this happen so we put in place these things so I just want to thank you again for coming to this session on flying to the Bahamas I'm going to thank the FA, Obi and his team who's doing an outstanding job in terms of getting the information out the private pilots on how to fly their aircraft to the Bahamas and the person working the floor I'm going to thank you guys too so on behalf of the Bahamas government I want to thank you excellent well I'm ready to go to the Bahamas particularly for that party I tell pilots I say you know what I've been doing this for like 10 years or so the flying and they said I never get it right on the Friday night so I got to try it over again on the Saturday night but it's just good okay stand by for just a minute you want to come up here and talk to Greg about anything on the islands ask questions any card oh yeah and what I want to do too my business card as pilots fly to the Bahamas and you can call on any problem so let's say if you're down there this is an insurance if you can call on any problem just click