Is it legal to cross a border in flight or is it necessary (emergency notwithstanding) to remain in the country in which you have cleared customs?

I ask because one of my regular journeys will take me into the US from Canada and I can clear customs close to my departure point or close to my arrival point but the best route to fly seems to be mostly within Canada.

If anybody is familiar with a good GA route from the Vancouver BC area or Bellingham (BLI) to Tonasket (W01) or Oroville (OS7), I'd appreciate a PM, otherwise I'll probably go IFR (I follow roads).

Allan

I have no idea what the Big Brother Homeland Security behemoth says about this, but I know once I was enroute to Campbell River from Seattle and the weather went down at my destination when I was just South of Nanaimo. I turned around to go back to Seattle and asked Victoria if I needed to land to clear customs and was told as far as they were concerned since I never landed I was never in Canada just their airspace.

I never heard from CBPS or any of the other Homeland Security alphabets after I returned. I kept the same cross border squawk for the entire round trip.

Don't know if this helps or not.

If you decide to deal with CBPS at KBLI a reasonable low altitude route is to follow the North Cascades Highway. South of Mt. Baker to Concrete (3W5) , Marblemount, and follow the highway and power lines to Ross Lake. At the Ross Dam power plant the road road bends to the Southeast takes a bit of a snaky route through Rainy and Washington Passes over to the East side and spits you out at Methow Valley. I would not take this route with low ceilings or high winds.

Motoadve and I took most of this route last Tuesday in calm winds and sunshine and it was beautiful.


TD

I've heard the same as Tom D, if you don't land then it doesn't matter. I don't have a reference for that, though.


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No need to do anything for just an overflight of US from Canada, though I am pretty sure that you do need to be on a flight plan. I do it frequently from Victoria to say Chilliwack where you are in US airspace for a lot of the time, though talking to Victoria terminal. Also done a flight around MT Baker on my way to Hope.

There was a lot of fuss over this last year when US changed the rules, but it is back to this now as far as I know. YMMV.

As long as you file it's ok, Also you will get issued a discreet code to use while close to the border, but if you are following the road, no one can pick it up anyway. I used to travel the hiway from Grand Forks to Boundary Bay quite often, but was a few years ago. CA. Really does not care, the US side worry alot.

Your squawk code is being monitored more than you know. Even if ground based radar can't see you, don't forget there can be AWACS and UAVs patrolling also. Get your code as soon as you're able, and confirm that it has been shared with the neighbors whether you're north bound or south bound. Then you can choose whatever route works best with the weather. You are asked in your eApis submission to be specific about where you'll be crossing and what time, but don't be afraid to leave yourself options with your description.

If you are unable to reach your destination and have to land in your destination country without clearing customs, do it. Declare an emergency and state your intentions on 121.5. Once landed, stay in your airplane, ask bystanders to stay clear, and request that local law enforcement attend. You may have some explaining to do, but at least we won't be speculating at your funeral.

The Hope Slide area has a bad reputation. Until you gain your own experience, please make good use of the BC highway webcams, and be very sure of yourself before you commit to the pass. One of my times being in the air wishing I was on the ground was there.

Pinecone wrote:If you are unable to reach your destination and have to land in your destination country without clearing customs, do it. Declare an emergency and state your intentions on 121.5. Once landed, stay in your airplane, ask bystanders to stay clear, and request that local law enforcement attend. You may have some explaining to do, but at least we won't be speculating at your funeral.

That's not great advice and is a bit extreme.

On a recent ferry from Lower America to AK, we planned Orcas Island direct Ketchikan. Got our squawk and crossed into Canada, never filing with customs to stop. Were forced down by low ceilings and had to land Port Hardy BC.

We contacted ATC (Victoria Center maybe?) told them we hit WX, landed and called CA customs. Very friendly people - asked for our passport numbers and how many days we'd like to stay in CA. Said we were free to travel wherever we like and only to call back if we wanted to stay longer.

US customs in Ketchikan however, were about the most unpleasant Gov't asshats I've dealt with, just short of TSA.

Declaring an emergency should be saved for just that... an emergency.

TradeCraft wrote:

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US customs in Ketchikan however, were about the most unpleasant Gov't asshats I've dealt with, just short of TSA.

+1