Security ID cards for private flying - outside Australia

[Islander Jock]

G'day everyone,
I am interested to know, in the current security environment, what sort of security checks you have to go through in your country to be allowed to operate at a larger airport.

If you have to have a special ID card, how difficult is it to obtain?

How much does it cost?

How long is it valid for?

Does the system provide for overseas visiting pilots to apply for a card and exercise the privileges of their licences? I am not after info on pilot licences, just the security matters.

My reason for asking this is that here in Australia, we are being right royally screwed at the moment by an incompetent bureaucracy making it expensive and time consuming for the locals and just about impossible for overseas pilots to get one of our Aviation Seucirty ID Cards (ASIC). :ugh:

Please PM me if you don't wish to post the info here.

Regards,

IJ

[flugholm]

Here’s how it works in Germany: In one word, it’s different, but just as silly as in Oz.

There’s no such thing as an Aviation Security ID Card here.

There’s only your license, PPL (JAA or National), CPL, ATPL etc, valid in connection with a passport or national ID card, as the license doesn’t even contain a piccie of your mug.

If you hold a German PPL or upwards, and intend to fly powered a/c or motorgliders, you need to pass a security check – which can take over three months to process and which you have to pay for yourself. This is valid for two years, otherwise your license may be suspended or revoked. (The two year period is currently under review.)

Funnily, no security check is needed is you only intend to fly balloons, microlights, gliders or non-selflaunching powered gliders.

Also, no security check is needed if you hold a PPL (JAA or National), CPL, ATPL of any other nationality.

The only logic I can see in this is that The Powers That Be view German pilots as potential criminals and terrorists. Those from other countries are quite okay per se.

The mind boggles…! :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

[BackPacker]

I fly from an international airport in the Netherlands, but my flying club has its own entrance to the apron. No checks there but only pilots from the club are supposed to know the code for the gate...:ooh: I've been to small airfields in Germany, Belgium and the UK. I have yet to show my passport anywhere and I don't have any other form of ID card. Nor did anybody (other than the TSA, for flight training in FL) ever do a background check.

The airport I fly from also has a GA parking lot a little further down. In order to get through the gate there, the security guard there will need to see (& write down the details of) your pilots license and passport.

So as far as I know:
- Your license (as it does not contain a picture) is only valid in combination with a picture ID. Either a national ID card or a passport.
- In order to get access to your plane on a larger, secured airport, you might need to prove you're a pilot, with your license and passport again.
- In order to fly into and out of the Schengen area, you will need to visit customs. However, particularly when flying to the UK, this can be taken care of by submitting the flight and crew/passenger details on a gendac form to customs, who will then come out and visit you if they think that that's a worthwhile investment of their time.
- Within the Schengen area there are no border checks so legally you can fly from any place to any other place without paying a visit to customs. All you need to do on an international flight is submit a flight plan.

All in all I think the system is rather sensible. The only real complaint I have heard is that on some international airports, the entrance to the apron is combined with the passenger or crew entrance for the commercial (or VIP) flights. This means that you've got to go through security, who will then apply the same silly security measures to you as they apply to passengers and crew from commercial flights. But if you, on arrival, leave the leatherman, after shave, whiskey and other weapons of mass destruction in your plane, nobody is going to know it.

[DX Wombat]

Compared with the carry on in Oz - not a lot! I carry my passport and licence but as I usually fly to and from places where I am known I have never yet been asked for proof of my identity. Travel outside the UK requires forms to Special Branch etc.