[marioair]

Need to get into Paris city centre in May.
Reading the previous threads on here but not seen much info since Br****

What’s the best option (from SE of England).

Where has customs & immigration now.

I can do IFR or VFR

[Rob P]

I am not sure that Brexit has made any significant difference other than to the paperwork. You still need to enter via a customs/Schengen field as ever.

I stand to be corrected

Rob P

[malcolmfrost]

https://www.onlinegar.com/frenchcustoms.olg

[G-BLEW]

Need to get into Paris city centre in May.
Reading the previous threads on here but not seen much info since Br****

What’s the best option (from SE of England).

Where has customs & immigration now.

I can do IFR or VFR

I don't think Brexit has made a difference, the 'easiest' is a quick stop at whichever of the north coast airfields is more convenient.

Ian

[Lefty]

There are no GA airfields in the Paris region that have customs, refer to the french AIP and or OnlineGAR.com for a list customs airfields.

Basically land at Calais, Le Touquet or Deauville to clear customs and immigration into (and again out of) France / Schengen.

[marioair]

There are no GA airfields in the Paris region that have customs, refer to the french AIP and or OnlineGAR.com for a list customs airfields.

Basically land at Calais, Le Touquet or Deauville to clear customs and immigration into (and again out of) France / Schengen.

Thanks @Lefty that’s what I was after.
Such a shame - Paris is just a 90min flight for me but the need to stop somewhere makes it less useful.

From SE England is T.St Noble or St C L’Ecole still best?

[Iceman]

They certainly have nearby links to the Metro system so will get you into the centre of Paris more cheaply than a taxi from Beauvais / Pointoise.

Iceman

[marioair]

Looks like the two ADs in my original post are the shortlist then?

Airspace looks as complex as London.

Any experience of what they do for routing on an IFR FP?

[Iceman]

The STARs , SIDs and IAPs are detailed in the French AIP.

Iceman

[patowalker]

Toussus Le Noble has awkward neighbours.

Silence periods, from 01st APR to 30th SEP, SUN and public HOL 1100-1400 (SUM : - 1 HR) :
- Aerodrome prohibited for all thermal-powered ACFT traffic. ACFT operated for medical evacuation, with an emergency characteristic, are exempt from this
provision.
- Run-up prohibited.
- Taxiing is authorized only for moving on apron or towards maintenance workshop

[malcolmfrost]

Frankly, satisfying as it might be to fly it will be much quicker to take the tunnel and drive!!

[Peter_G]

satisfying as it might be to fly it will be much quicker to take the tunnel and drive!!

Even quicker & cheaper by Eurostar.

[Ibra]

Nothing to do with Brexit, since 2015, long story short not that much: if you factor weather & schedule restrictions it gets tricky to fly UK to Paris…

The best option I found hassle free is fly to Lille (60€) then 10min uber and 1h TGV (30€ O/R tickets)

I have flown twice to LeBourget, both were less than 1h parking and it was +500€ for 1.4T

Beauvais is one option: if RyanAir lands you are guaranteed a quick bus to Porte Maillot (there is train as well) but make sure you don’t need any Avgas when RyanAir lands, they will be busy serving their masters first !

The other quick alternative is Rouen for customs (get PNR right) and then Toussus, maybe worth asking ATC if it’s really necessary to stop at Rouen? this may have changed with Brexit (on flight without pax, they give you departure clearance for Toususs before you start approach to Rouen), if you can take grass, StCyr is a very nice & cozy option, then very close to train station and straight to city center

Going VFR to Toussus is tough, don’t do it, unless you know the place by heart and your first time was J3 Cub

Going IFR to Toussus is easier, you will be puzzled by routings from Rouen/LeTouquet to Toussus, I suggest just file something that validate and ignore: ATC will take care of it, alternatively once you cross CDG/Orly axis, ask direct Toussus but let ATC know explicitly that you are happy with uncontrolled IFR (they don’t offer “du IFR non-controllé” out of the blue, so they may route you all the way south with Orly arrivals via ODILO+STAR+INA RNP+Radar+ILS to keep you in airspace), if you get direct Toussus, the ILS25 is very scenic: you fly direct overheadToussus, then outbound on back-course LOC (now TSU VOR070), then back on ILS, if it’s VMC, you will fly near Eiffel Tower twice

[Ibra]

Strictly speaking things have changed a bit after Brexit for going to Paris by GA but the devil is in the details…

Before Jan2021, you could fly to Toussus or Pontoise from UK if the flight is “crew only”, there was some concession deep in French law but nothing was listed in AIP as it’s carp, not up to date (it’s not the law anyway) and also because the operator did not want to update it: they will get in troubles with local neighbours & pilots if they “steal” some heavy bizjet traffic from LeBourget…

Toussus & Pontoise are customs airports, they are listed as AIU (airport international de l’union for goods, aka airport for customs union ACU) but they did not have immigration POE status (they lost their point of entry in 2016, aka point de passage frontalier PPF), that means you can fly to them from Switzerland , Norway today but not from UK (pre Brexit & post Brexit), Ireland, Croatia, or in other words they have douanes for DGI douanes customs but not PAF police immigration

However, there was an exemption for ‘crew only flights’ where you can skip AD POE/PPF if you go to AD AIU with 24h PNR and sending police details of pilot & co-pilot passports, see Chap4: Art18 and AnnexVII of Shengen Boder Code, for flight with pax you have to use AD POE/PPF airports like Rouen & LeBourget, there are no other ways

AnnexVII Shengen code: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content ... d1e32-30-1

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/art ... 0035871865

List of AIU today,

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/s ... rports.pdf

List of POE/PPF today,

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/ ... 0043547009

Before Jan21, you could fly direct to Toussus, Pontoise, Dieppe if the flight is “crew only” (you stillsend PNR to police), this is no longer the case now for UK (still the case if you route via Croatia or Ireland )

There was some hope that Toussus will get PAF agents for immigration and they were around in Jan2020 when I landed there for a trial period but that project has stalled with covid-19 and neighbours and locals complaints of twin jets that comes with it, the old agreement is LeBourget gets that traffic from UK/Switzerland and the info was never updated in the AIP (I am still chasing ADP operator to get that entry updated) but some pilots have used few concessions…

If it seems complicated, just land at LeTouquet or Rouen

[marioair]

It's a PITA!

So it looks like my best option is L2K to collect some stamps and the Pointoise or T St Noble.