Originally Posted by
Needlesplit
If you want to fly in cyprus make sure you book ahead. If it for a holiday, ideally before you go. The Cypriots are wonderful friendly people but they do NOT understand why people who are not in the military or work for an airline get to fly. (Remember the Plane spotters fiasco in Greece?!) I lived in Cyprus for a year and had no luck getting past the guy with the machine gun at Larnaca when I turned up 'on spec' to find out about GA flying. Notwithstanding, I could see the Tomahawks on the tarmac!
The Manager of the Airport (no less!) eventually told me to go home and ring the school and get an 'authorisation' as they have to come and collect you from the terminal. At Pafos, Griffon have an office you can access from the public areas but dont go on Sunday!! This was all about 18 months ago, but I doubt its changed much!
Hope this helps.
All too true - Cyprus is one of those places that loves bits of paper with stamps all over it. It doesn't matter what the piece of paper says but it must have a stamp on it. It is worth all of the hassle as the flying is great but you are quite limited where you can go because of the island mentality.
All of the clever Cypriots have left the island. Enough said.
G