 Our next presenter has been with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism for over 21 years. He's the chief aviation specialist. He's a graduate of the Texas Tech University, a licensed pilot with over 800 hours of flying time. He's a member of AOPA, National Business Association, National Business Aviation Association, Florida Aviation and Trade Association, member of the Florida Arrow Club. He's the coordinator for the Bahamas Aviation Council and the Bahamas Monthly Fly-In. It is really easy and fun to fly to the Bahamas. His topic today is safe and fun flying to the islands of the Bahamas. Let's welcome Greg Rowell. Thank you, Walter. First of all, I'd like to thank Obi and his team who have done an outstanding job in terms of getting the word out to you guys. You tell me, say, Greg, just come down. We have a lot of pilots who want to know about flying the aircraft to the islands of the Bahamas. Could you help them out? I said, absolutely. Again, my name is Greg Rowell. I'm with the Ministry of Tourism, the Bahamas government entity that want to tell you the private pilots on how to fly your aircraft to the islands of the Bahamas. One of the things we have in place is if you want to go fishing, you need to go where the fishes are. So our government and the Bahamas have the vision and also the fortitude to say, Greg, you need to go to the sun and fun and try to get the pilots to fly the aircraft to the Bahamas. Aviation specialist Greg Rowell, and we have 700 islands in the islands of the Bahamas for you to fly one. So I tell pilots, the thing is if you go to the Bahamas and you go one destination, please visit many more destinations because you have 700 islands. Like John Obradovich said, you're bound to find an island that you like. A couple of things the Bahamas government has put in place. With God Almighty put this in place for us. We're so close to the United States and we're able to have that group of pilots to fly to the Bahamas because 46 miles away from the Florida coast, the Bahamas is your playground. Beautiful scenery, multiple airports. The Bahamas island have a chain of acapellic islands that has over 60 airport of landing strip. Now some of them would be landing strip. However, you could go to any destination and find an island for you. Good facilities, one of the things because private pilots now come into the Bahamas we now realize that for you guys to come to the Bahamas we have to have amenities, the amenities that you are accustomed to here in the United States. So we have good facilities for you. Secondly, Bahamas customs and the arrival of departures are increasingly easy for you. No landing fears at the government airports. We'll get more in details in this later on as we go along. And fuel in the Bahamas is similarly to that of the United States. Of course, fuel is higher. One guy came out of Bhutan this morning and he said that Greg, you know what? A couple of years ago, weeks ago, to Trinidad, Barbados, and the Southern America. And he said, because of fuel, we scratched that and now we're going directly to the Bahamas. My thing on this, I say, I might direct the general told me that it's beyond me that someone to fly beyond the Bahamas. You don't need to go that far. 46 miles away you can save fuel and have fun at the same time. Let's go on some of the things that the Bahamas government put in place. One, infrastructure. The government is spending money putting things in place because if I go to a seminar to the private policy, so you know, Greg, the runway is not as good. The facilities, we can't get phone calls in this year and that day the government say, now, Greg, tell me what the policy wants to be put in place. I get them a short list and they put it in place. As you look to your left, the right-hand side, we have blue phones that the Bahamas government put in place specifically for private pilots. NPRM, this is a new rulemaking that the U.S. government will be bringing on stream. Now, we have an evasion council that is proactive and they keep our eyes and eyes peeled to the current trends in fashion. The minute there's a rule or regulation about the common stream, we at the council make sure that we have all the information that we could tackle it head-on so that there would be minimum delay for the U.S. private pilots coming to the Bahamas to enjoy our destination. The Bahamas program, this is very critical and I tell the policies over and over again because one of the things to give us as residents in the islands of the Bahamas, we spread out all information, put them at the fingertip so when you encounter anyone along the streets or in the restaurant or at the bars or whatever, any behemoth, they could tell you about our country. The good thing about this, when you are able to get information on the destination, you could enjoy what we have to offer in the islands of the Bahamas. This also tells the even persons inside the Bahamas customs, silivation, immigration and of course all the taxi drivers, the hotel workers, everyone on front-line tourism on how to take care of the private pilots when they come to the destination. Like I say, you could come one time, have a good time or spend some money but if you come over repeatedly over again, you tend to spend more money when you become a customer, you feel comfortable and you actually see what you need to buy the second time. That can only happen when people treat you as if they want you in the country and we sensitize everyone in the country to know that this is where you are in a living because these pilots come to the Bahamas, you are able to work it out for them. The positive entry, as I mentioned earlier, we put up telephones for all private pilots visiting in and out of the country. As you know, as I get into it later on, you must collect customs at a point of entry and after 9-11, of course, that changes for everybody in the world and US customs require that you must call via line-line, telling them of the ETA come back into the country. We in the Bahamas did not want you to put that at expense onto your thing so we at the government made sure that we have the telephones in place for you to make that call. Better radio coverage, red carpet service to pilots. This is something that we put in place just to tell you thank you for coming because if you see a sign, say welcome to the Bahamas private pilots you feel like these people really want my business. The radio, when you want to call NASA Radio to file a flight plan, we can make that happen because it's easier to have the fire mean to actually close or open your flight plans in media. Night flying is something that we're going to talk about as we get through the speech that pilots want to fly at night because they can leave in the afternoon and in the time they get ready to touch at the destination, it's night flight and they don't want to spend all their time flying to the maybe NASA or free port. They want to go to Rhode Island so we're going to put those things in place for you. And again, this is also for your FYI the international acceleration organization now where we are on the Britain, we now under the FAA. So all the rules and regulations that you guys are used to we are now following the same procedure. This is something that is really amazing. First being so close to the US coast the FAA and flight support has jurisdiction over most of the Bahamas. So when I talk about the radio coverage the remote communication outlets they are distributed all through the island through the Bahamas. So as you see as you fly through the Bahamas you have access to better radio coverage. And the good thing about the 46 miles away is the fact that you will get flight falling from let's say Miami and you can fly all the way down into the island to the Bahamas still talking to Miami Radio or Miami Center. And this is added security for you the pilot pilots make you feel welcome, if you feel comfortable that's what you want to do because after all getting there is the most difficult part except in your mind 46 miles is very easy but you feel comfortable you want to come more flying over water a lot more water talking to US authorities you feel comfortable that's what you want to do. One of the most visible signs coming to the Bahamas you see the clarity of the water. As I mentioned earlier some of our islands are inhabited you could go to some islands that are totally remote those persons who in the 17 1700s who came to Plymouth those days are long gone development and also prosperity has changed the development landscape of the land but you could still find that nature effect you come down to the Bahamas you could be on an island where you and your significant other or your family could be the only person on the island to visit you can talk about government airport now government airport is basically the airports are owned and operated by the Bahamas government and all pilots are welcome you also have private airport and private airport being the airport independently owned by hotels or maybe an island investor but most pilots are welcome we're going to talk about today ports of entry port of entry basically mean that this facilities has Bahamas customs and immigration to clear you legally into the country in order to go into a foreign destination you know what's so good about the Bahamas be so close 46 miles away a lot of people from the US so close they say it has to be part of the US but you know because of international country we try to make it as easy as possible and again if those persons who are flying outside the state of Florida and I joined a part of it mentioned earlier the hardest part of flying is getting down to south Florida once you have achieved that goal it's basically very easy to get over let's look at things you need to get to the Bahamas you must have aircraft you need to get to the Bahamas you also do not need to depart from a port of entry in the United States in fact you could depart right from here from Lakinan take off right from here and fly directly to the Bahamas I know you do not need to call US Custom and say that you are leaving the country and also you do not need to call Bahamas Custom and say that I'm coming in let's come on over to the flight plan now this flight plan is similar to the one that you are already accustomed to filing already if you go and let's say maybe to Orlando and go into one of the other high traffic area you file a flight plan it's the same flight plan what they may ask in addition is maybe the name of persons on board the aircraft people ask about firearms you could take firearms to the Bahamas the other thing is here is you should notify US Customs prior to leaving the US saying that I'm taking my firearms to the Bahamas and this just avoid any complication when you re-entry back into the United States and also you do not need to actually really tell them but I think it makes sense to keep the headache to a minimum and also in the Bahamas we would require that you stay on the mono rounds you have so firearms could go to the Bahamas aircraft decal US Customs charge at $25 fee and this could be purchased online and we have the booklets in the back of the room that tells you the websites you could go to US Customs to get the decals stick up carrying your license pilot license, aircraft registration these you carry with you for the Bahamas I had a group just went down to the Bahamas last week the serious owners association pilot association they went down we had about 44 planes went down to the Bahamas and then they were talking to use Clarin Bahamas Customs immigration the guy pulled out his registration his license medical and insurance and you know the guy said do you need this he said no we don't need a lot you just need a C7A passport and you're ready to go but the thing is fellow pilots coming back into the country you're going to need it so put it away safely enjoy the Bahamas and you are good to go now and route to the Bahamas you must have approved life vest for a person on board now life raft life raft is not required but if you feel comfortable with a life raft I suggest you take one with you now this doesn't happen for pilots who went for the first time first two times what they do they would log that and third or fourth time and you say honey you don't need to carry that life vest because the water is so shallow you could bring back a case of beer with that with that weight you know but if you feel comfortable fellow pilots and if your wife said you know I'm not going unless I have it let's have it let's get the life raft now once you can find a flight plan you have all your life vest on board and so forth before prior leaving once you take off you activate your flight plan with Miami radio and in the Florida area follow all the areas 126.7 or 122.2 this is going VFR if you are going IFR they would automatically give you a clearance and you just follow the procedures but if you go and I tell folks IFR is maybe the way to go but if VFR is also a good way to go because you get a chance to see the whole Bahamas and you get to see the islands you get to see on roadway going and if you decide to see an island over there and your wife say honey well that look good can we see that property you just deviate and go bus it up for a minute or two that can only do under VFR and prior to landing in the Bahamas you also must close the flight plan again at these parts of entry we have the telephone if you forget to close the flight plan in the air you could also do it on the ground some of the forms we need to talk about is the custom form the C7A form and in the back of the room in our booklet they have the names printed out for you the C7A three copies of the C7A which is the general declaration form for Bahamas customs and then immigration card requires that each person fill out an immigration card and this is a copy of the form and then the good thing about this form you could go to flying.Bahamas.com download the form and you could print out as many as you want in fact what you could do you could just put it in a place where all the information that doesn't really change regularly how about already print it in when you just print it out you just add the time and where you need to go where you're going but the thing is you must line up at the airport of entry remember I said we talked you have to collect customs and immigration that's the reason why you go to the airport of entry and it must close the flight plan once you arrive once you get on the island you present the identification to Custom Officer this order of respect I put this here because you should present your party license and so forth but because we laid back the requirements that you don't need to show it because we know if you're coming from the states you must have these things on board in the case that you have with you so we want to make sure that you have more time to spend on the beach than spending inside this office trying to clear customer who already know you have all the information so your passport we need to have you clear all the forms and this so you could get stomp stomp stomp you on the beach again present the C78 form the one immigration card and be cooperative with the Custom Officers and make your life happy for you and again we told the Bahama host the Custom Officer, Bahamas Customs know exactly what your purpose why are you here and welcome to the island to the Bahamas now let's talk about some kind of this landing getting into the Bahamas we have two types of airports one controlled and the other uncontrolled the controlled airports are Nassau and Grand Bahama and these airports 25 miles out you will contact control and they will give you landing instruction but most of our airports are uncontrolled and 65 to 70% of all private pilots who goes to the Bahamas most of them wants to go to the out islands I want to say out island fellow pilots I mean everything other than Nassau and Grand Bahama take Nassau and Grand Bahama or the equation all the other islands are what you call the out islands now the thing is the trick is with this the out islands does not have they actually do not have a tower they do not have a tower so what do I do one of the things is in fact at some airport they don't have no one at the airport so what you need to do you need to announce over the radio your aircraft, your identification your location and your intention on unicom frequency 122.8 this basically is telling everyone in the area what you are about to do and this makes a lot of sense because every pilot in the area would honor and respect this information you are about to do and again if you look at the Bahamas you realize this is breathtaking and only pilots could see this kind of view because if you flying a commercial Delta you cannot see that unless they come in they are on base and you can see it from there but straight ahead only us private pilot has the luxury to actually see that view and not only that but you private pilots you are more luxury than anyone else because some of these airports on our islands that we have they do not accommodate commercial traffic so you have to go either by boat or private plane so you the private pilots has the best picture or the best view to see our country and believe me fellow pilots after got my license I took that approach and I was able to see our whole country it's only then when I got my license I was able to really really experience and enjoy my country this is beaming and as you fly over these various of island you can see the layout of the island and have a better appreciation where you like to walk or maybe go take a taxi or even take a slight job but this basically gives you a boys eye view on the islands of the Bahamas again walker's key you have this view inside and enjoy the amenities we have the offer once you are ready Claire you are free to enjoy all amenities in the islands of the Bahamas this is Norman's key and again this is not a this is not a painting this is a photograph that was taken by various pilots so the Bahamas is a beautiful place to see let's talk about experimental planes experimental some five years ago the population of Papua made an all-out approach effort to standardize the violation for experimental no longer experimental aircraft needs to call and get an approval they come on in just like any other aircraft you know the same way Canada does it we now put the same policy in place at least there are some of the items that we would have onboard the aircraft and again you could go to flying.Bahamas.com and get all this information and again once you Claire one time at one part of entry you could go to multiple islands and visit as many islands as you want because what Bahamas customers will do they will give you all of those three copies one will go to immigration customers will retain one and they will give you a C7A with that copy that will also access your cruise information and you are able to travel to all islands one of the things too with the Bahamas government because we take this so seriously and we feel that we need to put a stop to zero tolerance for the offices Bahamas customs officers charging over time the controller of Bahamas customs because as you pilots come to the Bahamas and you encounter a problem I ask that you if you encounter a problem tell me I need to know that the only way I can fix that problem I need to know about that problem so what it is pilot comes to Greg you know what they charge me over time and I had a meeting with the controller customs who agreed to put it in writing in black and white there are no overtime charges for private pilots visiting for pleasure so you go to the Bahamas and Bahamas customs want to charge you over time the books are in the back just open the page to the controller message and the second paragraph noted that you're not supposed to pay overtime charges and I guarantee as we do this more they will get the message and reason why this is so fellow pilots the Bahamas has of course we have 700 islands and we have 21, 22 of them that are positive intrigue so we bring a lot of the officers from NASA or Grand Bahama and we put them on maybe on a two year rotation in different various islands so the time we have educated a group then they switch them over and put another group in there and we try to before they get pointed posted at the out islands we try to give them a little seminar briefing on how I was done and they know this this isn't a manual but of course after working for like 10, 15 years you think you know it all so we definitely need to remind them the good thing about it they're listening and they're listening with a good air some of the things just to go through landing fees for single engine aircraft under 6,000 pounds so now this is only a government airport now a private airport there might be a fee now think of this at the back of the room the guide there is a listing of all airports that are private on our government and you go down the list and you'll see if you go to the Mars shop or you know that's a government airport so I'm flying a single engine aircraft it's under 6,000 pounds so I should not be paying no landing fees and that's the way we make sure that we have a thing called the pilot's bill of right and this basically tells you your rights while in the Bahamas and again we talk about overtime charges there are no overtime charges whether you're multi or single engine but if you're coming for this sake for pressure there's no overtime charges but if you this is a charter then there will be overtime charges for you Tyron there's no Tyron fee in the Bahamas but in some islands they have Tyron pilots some persons working at the airport will come and tie a plane down and basically they just don't want a type of service for you and then they looking for a tip or something like that now some of the private airports there are Tyron fee let's look at fuel fuel is not available to all airports in the Bahamas however it's no more than 20 minutes of flying time away from fuel night flying as I mentioned night flying they are only in Nassau and Grand Bahama and this is basically for the purpose of getting pilots to fly to the destination where they have ILS approaches and instrument landing where we could legally get you in safely what we're there to drive for is that we want to get the old island to be landing at night like the Marshal and the treasure keys and exhumers and this is now coming on stream now the government say that this will be in effect some of the testing running it right now as we speak so now if you're coming from New York and you're coming on let's say on a Friday afternoon and when you get down to Miami you realize the time you get to Marshal is going to be nightfall and you don't want to go to Grand Bahama and you don't want to go to Nassau so you may have to stay in Nassau and let's say fall all the day and then leave all on Saturday morning but hopefully not too long you could just go directly to Marshal maintenance and repair this is also critical because if you have the notion that if something happened in my aircraft while I'm in the Bahamas what do I do we have maintenance repair shop in Nassau and Grand Bahama and then some of the old islands Exuma, Long Island Marshal but also I know you could see in the video Bynin and some of the FBO in the state of Fort Lauderdale they have a service that they offer to private pilots that in the event that something happens you could call them and they could bring all the information all the equipment that you need to get your plane up and running to get back into the United States in the booklet running the runway length in the Bahamas is on average it's 5,000 feet of course we have some 6,000 feet and we have some 3,000 feet as well but on average we work out about 5,000 feet weather this is very good because the Bahamas is being so close to the United States and with that WX brief you could get weather anywhere in the Bahamas so you could actually find a flight plan or get a weather briefing from your hotel room right in the Bahamas and it don't cost you nothing at all because it's a toll free number and to the courtesy of the FAA and flight service you could find this in place now let's say now you really enjoy yourself the Bahamas you had a good time what do I do to get back into the country what the procedures will be first of all the first one you need to do you need to go to an airport of entry to get back out of the country also we need a file a flight plan to get back out as well today you get a briefing and also get checked weather as well now this one you must call customer advice and give them a detailed information the good thing about this right here with the telephones that we have in place that you need to get them an ETA or when you're going to come back and ask a series of questions persons on board, US persons and so forth and so on the list is on the back of the room what I called and the thing is these phones we call them the blue phones at the airport these are specifically designed for private pilots also you must fill out one copy of the general deck this would be called the C7 and it's also in the booklet the C7 form remember we came in with the C7A that's the other page on the back side of it it's the C7 form and this form will allow you to get a copy also when you're coming into the country Bahamas Customs immigration will give you a copy of the immigration card they have a duplicate copy that they keep, retain a copy and then they give you one for you to keep when you leave in the country you surrender that copy and also because we want to make sure that you file a flight plan some destination would ask to show that you file a flight plan this will only be your protection because it happened a couple of times it was so easy getting into the Bahamas and they had such a good time they forgot to file a flight plan and they get back into Fort Lauderdale and say oops, I forget or they remember in route and they actually tie up Miami Radio to actually steal all the flight plan while you're flying and that's why we have to show a copy of it and each person over the age of 6 years old pay the Bahamas government a departure tax and this is a government regulated departure tax that we pay again, once you take off you will need to activate your flight plan with NASA Radio 122 124.2 128.0 and the thing about this is the fact that being so close to the United States and if you get high enough you could actually activate with Miami Radio 126.7 I mean you could be you could be right down in Xuma maybe 7,000 feet you get Miami Radio and if you won at the same time you could activate it and actually flight follow at the same time so with that added security you and your persons in the plane feel so comfortable flying back to your home destination again flight follow if you get NASA and you want flight follow you could do 121.0 and again I mentioned 125.7 you get also flight follow with Miami Radio once you enter in the United States prior to getting it if you go on VFR you'll have to call up 126.7 that's Miami Radio and you need to ask for VFR code now this code basically remember we had one before where we called you as customs on the line and said we coming back in that's one thing we need to do a second thing we need to do before we penetrate the 8's this is an imaginary line around the United States which is done for security purpose and you know to keep intruders and unwanted out of the country anyone penetrating that without the proper approval the bells and whistles goes off and voila as you have a jet on the side of you we try to minimize that so what we try to do you call Miami Radio 6.7 and said you could do it soon as you could be able to get Miami Radio I need that score code and normally it would be VFR code 12 whatever whatever and that gives you approval to cross the 8's and fellow pilots if you do this you have no problem with customs or the US Air Force and once you get to the destination you want to close your flight plan and then you can do it 122.2, 122.4 or 126.7 and if you forget again you could also close your flight plan when you get on the ground on the WX brief and they will close it for you again this is something that is needed because you must land at airport of entry on the US side the difference here is if you are coming into Tampa you must land on the east coast first you cannot overfly and say I am just going to clear what I get into Tampa US customs dictates that you must land at the nearest port of entry upon re-entering the country now you could call and get let's say an over permit that will allow you to bypass the office on the east coast and go directly to the west coast that must be a poor prior to you taking off and again you have Opalaka, Miami, Fort Lauderdale Executive, Palm Beach Fort Pierce the good thing about these FBOs and the US customs I have been working with them for a while so they know that we are working diligently trying to get more private pilots to fly to the Bahamas so they normally work along with us we try to do our best to educate the public community on the rules and regulations to get back into the country safely so we are doing our best to get information out to the private pilots so they know we work with us we have ten of your vinyls and they are going to be playing and so forth in fact when you watch the DVD later on you will see we have one of the US customs officers telling the same story I am telling you right now how they will try their best to work with you and get you in as quickly and safely as possible and one of the things once you land you this once you land you go directly to the US customs building open all the doors take all the luggage out and go into the custom hall and they will clear you into the country and there is a rival report it is based also in the booklet in the back that will give you all the information that general deck that they will require to fill out upon coming back into the country now let's talk about the fly-ins now with that right there you have been safe you have been to the Bahamas, came back and you landed safe and fellow pilot believe it or not that is what you need to fly to the Bahamas I told a guy who came by the booth this morning I said flying to the Bahamas is disgustingly easy it is very easy I mean, within the first trip you become an expert you can go back home and tell your buddy say ok, just follow me and I will show you how it is done now the Bahamas fly-in basically this gives pilots there is a preview sometimes you could say this is how you do it it is very easy pilots maybe I need a little more help could you help me in terms of you know show me exactly how it is done these fly-ins I basically walk you by the hand and then I show you how to walk and shoot people everything you need the fly-in aircraft to the Bahamas I told you a while ago I will walk you step by step the good thing with these flying not only that it is a brave way to see the islands you get discounts on hotels you get cocktail parties that we give out and you meet new pilots coming along on these trips because one of the things you could come on these fly-ins meet other pilots from other cities and the next month or two you get your buddies call the other friends who came on the fly-ins and now you all go to the Bahamas to enjoy the destination and then as a pilot myself I will guide you and show you and if you go on VFR when we fly over the different various islands I would point out different vertical sites for you so take your mind off let's say old water flying again this is a first time pilots having to have a good time you just want to go to the Bahamas now the good thing about the Bahamas we have cocktail parties and we leave on a Friday night on a Friday afternoon we get into the Bahamas we get on the beach, get in the hotel room have a good time Friday afternoon 6.30 we do a cocktail party and I was doing this for almost like 15, 20 years and I tell pilots this one thing I can't seem to get it right it's like I try to have these reception I never get it right so on a Friday night so I got to try to get on the Saturday night but fellow pilots one of the thing is we try to make sure that you feel comfortable and then go with these flying you encounter a problem, that's my problem your problem is just to go how are you going to spend your time seeing all these 100 things to do and then you have time to do 20, you need to figure that out now anyone who's you're playing whatever problem you encounter this Greg real problem you say give it to Greg, he'll fix it I'll be ready to go back on Sunday the time you leave on a Sunday you'll have it fixed right and that's what it's all about and then also we have caps and maps and charts and also you pay a $40 fee and it's entirely up to both reception and fellow pilots believe it or not that's basically it we have a question at this time and then we're going to run a DVD any question? raise your hand I'll mention that the single engine, there's no landing fee how about light twins you said multi-plane multi-engine multi-engine there's a small fee I think it's between 8 to 10 bucks it's very minimal then he has a question right here is there any particular time of year that's better to fly into the Bahamas? one of the things I can tell people they won't like a deal now we have like solar periods with a slow period and then we have high season with a slow period with a pilot license you could get really good discount with the hotelers you call a hotelist and say I'm a private pilot normally they give you a discount rate that's one good thing secondly we talk about the hurricanes in the weather season because of the hurricane center we know where to advance when there's a hurricane in the area and that normally be from I think from June to November and then pilots who come from up north in the say in the winter months you would come down to the Bahamas the destination because it's always warm and for the southern you go it's better for you but the good thing about this the Bahamas used to be we have a season of but because we have more people coming to the Bahamas on a regular basis is open across the board now one of the things we have some giveaways Walter's going to help me some of these talk to me about six giveaway items that we want to give away to you and one thing I want to mention the Bahamas house ILS approaches in Nassau on Grand Bahama island now from Miami into Bimini is 46 nautical miles away now if you're going from Grand Bahama into Freeport is 16 nautical miles away so it's very easy you know now we have some giveaways I want to give away now my first question is I want to find out what requirements the documents a private pilot need declare Bahamas customs can I show a C7 a C7 what is a C7 okay absolutely you sound like you've been there a lot of time you've been paying close attention now I talked a little while ago that we have ILS approach now which two islands we have ILS approach okay yeah I just want to give because I said raise a hand and she did the honorable thing say raise a hand and let's wait for the instruction so so I like to give her a hand and now we talk about the fly ins now the fly ins someone tell me what's the cost of the fly ins and what what days we go on what days of the week you got it now also in this room we have one of our hoteliers and she has said she gave away that thing so I'm going to ask her to come up and talk a little bit about her property her name is Elizabeth Vance and she runs the Stella Myers Resort let's see if I can come for a minute now who can tell me exactly I know I can let her give her a question and then I can make up a question? okay really quick who knows what island Stella Maris Resort is on wait over here you got it you can come do the rest of my presentation thanks Greg now one thing I want to talk about Elizabeth property it's very pilot friendly you go there and you land at Stella Myers Resort, Stella Myers airport it's government owned it was private now it's government owned but she has been supportive of aviation and private pilots for many many years and I can guarantee you you go to a property you will feel welcome you will feel safe and you will have no problems getting online getting weather and also getting information and discount for private pilots so we get one more one more bag and this is a good bag and one of the thing is I want to find flying to the Bahamas which is the closest destination and what's the name of it huh yeah and how far is it it will be pretty close you know you know like they had this poster on I-95 by the airport and the poster was saying the Bahamas is 46 miles away and who cares how many inches you know but right now I want to go ahead and show a video and this video basically the DVD video which tells you exactly all the procedure on how you can fly aircraft into the Bahamas we can roll it up now for us hello I'm John Obradovich and my wife and I published the Bahamas in Caribbean pilot guide first let's just say that when you fly to the Bahamas the hardest when you go from where you live to Florida that's a lot more difficult in terms of restricted airspace and 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 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 a typical cruise altitudes radio reception is fine speaking with the choice of Miami or Nassau radio Nassau approach Mooney 888 Echo Foxtrot Echo Foxtrot Yeah I'm going to cancel flight following this time out airports in sight Hi I'm Craig Peyton 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 Gulf Stream it'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 winch here 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 normal hours for customs are 9 a.m. to 5 30 p.m. 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 pilots 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 and gas prices are similar to Florida's FBO's there's good FBO's throughout the country Marsh Harbor, Freeport, Nassau but also I carry a card from FBO's in Florida Bahamian 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 that help is only a couple hours away when departing surrender your copy of the immigration card and pay departure tax of $15 you must file an international flight plan with 800 WX brief or Nassau radio in the air before takeoff you are required to contact U.S. 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 A-D-I-Z just past Bimini Hi, I'm David Grantham I'm a pilot for 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 U.S. Custom Service prior to coming back into the United States back into the States make your call try to 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 you want me to go back up give them a few more minutes just to go to the credits after that another popular way to experience the islands the Bahamas tourist office has incorporated fly-in the fly-ins provide for discounted hotel and sports activity rates flying over water I don't see there's any more dangerous or troublesome than flying over the land you got to play you got to play ground over here is 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 so what do you think pretty good but what I'm going to do I have my credit card me and my business card credit card and what I like to do is get more assistance we also have a booth and hang a B B72 feel free to visit and get some hotel information as well as some pilot information in the background if you encounter a problem or find a group that wants to go to the Bahamas you need a little more assistance or bringing a group together or maybe you want to get more help in terms of getting more information about flying your aircraft to the Bahamas you know and I guarantee I'll take good care of you guys but I want to thank the FAA and Obi and his team for working us to the Bahamas and letting us just telling us about our country which we would love to have you to come and visit flying forward I don't have time to get Greg I'm ready to go flying out to the islands I think it's a good deal when's our next flight? in fact you know I can say I just came back last week went to Nassau and the pilots they wanted to go to the out islands so you know what they did on Saturday they actually left from Nassau and went to Marshavel spent the whole day and then came back and said what you guys did we said I went to Marshavel so all of this told telling you that flying to the Bahamas and going to the out island is the place most pilots want to see although we have a lot it's a wild factor it's a man it's excellent when you go to the out island it's something to die for most pilots they want to go to the out islands well we've got somebody here in the audience that's from New Hampshire and they said there's four feet of snow on the ground so I suspect they may be headed your way by accident I think it's a good deal the Bahamas I guarantee you we'll take care of you by that sound can't beat that anybody have a question come on up it's safe no Gallagher concert the answers are free it won't cost you a dime thank you be too thank you I'd like everyone to exit out this thank you