use of the bl@@dy GAR form by hotels....

[EESDL]

enquired about using a hotel near EGBB for a landing site.
£75.00 landing fee (New Hall, Sutton Coldfield)) and a completed GAR form for all onboard.........Landing fee was not surprising but to be asked to forward a GAR form for a private helo trip with UK nationals onboard, travelling within the UK was a bit rich!!
I thought the idea of the form was for customs/immigration if arriving from outside eu/uk etc not for some local police to kid itself that it knows who is on a flight (I'm assuming a terrorist has yet to use a helicopter to travel internally - or if they have they've yet to be caught by cleverly not prewarning their flight via GAR - or even using their correct name - clever these people!!)

Surely, it's of no business but mine, who I carry on a private internal flight?
Another nause all in the name of anti-terrorism........
I'm just hoping that the polite lady from the hotel who told me that they need a completed GAR form just assumed that I was travelling from outside the UK and perhaps needed clearance............ :mad: :mad: :mad:

[VeeAny]

EESDL

Check ur PMs


VeeAny

[EESDL]

Thanks - suspect it was pure BS as any suspect worth his salt would simply drive/go by train - thereby leaving little trace and only being tracked down once their task had been completed - a la London.

Having to submit a GAR form didn't stop a local 'dealer' (alledgedly your Honour) flying into a certain racetrack in S Yorks a couple of years ago. After depositing his passenger he then calmly departed infront of cropped-hair personnel in ill-fitting suits having a cup of tea with other to pilots.

Tears rolled down my cheeks after I pointed out to SB who had just landed and received the reply:

"can't have done, he wasn't on our list of visitors":{ :{ :{

It just appears that the misuse of the GAR form is some mis-conceived idea that someone, somewhere, is combatting terrorism.

You never know, the same people probably think that ID cards will also help!

So why don't other places regularly used for an HLS insist on a GAR form being completed?

What next? A National Security Plan insisting that full security screening is applied to all pax - in effect banning them from emplaning other than at an international airport!!

Has someone, somewhere, lost the plot?

[verticalhold]

EESDL;

The plot has definately been lost. Big brother hates us running around picking up and dropping pax at private sites. Remember the fuss a couple of years ago when a certain police force decided to check the details of all arrivals to the Grand Prix. They were threatening that flights would be delayed and that pax would be checked before leaving the AC. THey had no idea of how that heli-port works on race day and just how fast an aircraft is turned round there.

Big brother also fails to realise that often we know our customers extremely well. These people come back to us time and again because they like us or the service we offer.

I'm afraid that I have almost surrended to the inevitable now, and as far as possible complete a GA form for all flights with Pax I don't know. This follows being involved (unknowingly) in a con perpetrated by a national newspaper (toilet roll actually, and no it wasn't the famous sight seeing flight over the thames for the Mirror) The Journo involved was recently defended on TV news by one of his colleagues claiming that "he had never broken the law to get a story" Well he bloody well did with me and dropped me truly in the s:mad: I used to do a lot of work for his paper, If he had been honest with me I would have helped him, now I look forward to reading his obituary.

A hotel however, asking for a GAR is ridiculous. These people have a very small amount of knowledge and use it unwisely. See my remarks on the landing fees thread to get my full opinion!!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[John Eacott]

OK, I give up. What's the GAR that you are all talking about?

And if it's as much a PITA as this thread implies, for goodness sake don't send the idea down here......:rolleyes:

[FloaterNorthWest]

John Eacott,

GAR = General Aviation Report. It is part of the Terrorism Act and is used to notify Special Branch/Police of a flight into or out of the UK.

We use them a lot as we fly from Northern Ireland. I have never heard of them using them on the mainland but I live and learn.

FNW

[nigelh]

I am always amazed at how the police love to do anything but their actual job !! They sit on their arses in Range Rovers on empty motorways at 2 am waiting for someone to speed......1 mile away there is probably a house being broken into , a mugging. rape etc but no they want to sit in a car !!! I have now been told that if i take my shotgun and put it in my helicopter at the airport i have to inform them so they can send a policeman on a little jolly to have a look at it and establish ...yes it is a gun and yes amazingly seeing as i have volunteered the info , rather than carry it on board without a word, it does belong to me !!!! Or i could take off , land on the boundary pick the gun up and be on my way...:confused: No wonder this country is in such a state run by idiots, beaurocrats and tree huggers :ok: :ok:

ps why fill out these forms if it is not mandatory.....REFUSE.

[Letsby Avenue]

Like a stab vest; a police car is now part of the uniform and as such, cannot be removed whilst on duty...:}