Flying to Europe in small plane, avoiding visas
 

Hi,
I had this crazy idea that I want to hire a pilot with a small plane to fly me from the US west coast (or east coast) to Yugoslavia. (another options are the Carrabien like Nevis, St. Kitts

Questions:
Is it even possible?
how long would it take?
how many times would we have to refuse in a typical small 1 prop plane?
When we refuel in various countries and just get out of the plane to stretch and use the bathroom would we alway have to show our passports and visas (definitely something I do not want to do)?

Any other things to consider?

Appreciations for your reply

PS: Just for a thought experiment, would it be possible for a small plane to carry enough fuel in an extra tank behind the seats to make it there without refueling?

There are a few guys who have done similar things on youtube if you want to have a look. It is no small undertaking though.

It is possible.
Would take several days, and might take days longer than planned if weather is bad. If the weather is really bad you might end up pushing the flight forward for weeks.
Depends on what you fly, but most have a range of a few hours. I have not done any actual checking but I would guess you should count on stops on Greenland, Iceland, UK (probably two stops) and then another few stops in west/central europe.
Yes you need to have visa (or other appropriate document depending on your nationality and circumstances) and passport and clear immigration and customs (you really didn't think there is no border check just because you don't arrive on a commercial flight? Right?).

As a start maybe look at this trip?

Just for a beginning: you may have observed that Yugoslavia has ceased to exist. I am afraid you have a lot more preparation to do.

Skipping several steps of criticism, my bottom line is that, while crossing the Atlantic in a SEP is not entirely excluded - it has been done indeed, many times - it is a much more complicated story than you seem to realise. And certainly it will be one of the minor hassles to obtain the required visa's in your passport and to show them when required.

Some points not mentioned yet:
* survival equipment. To be even marginally safe you need to carry a raft, and to wear lifejackets. Not just carry lifejackets, wear them! All the time!
* comm's equipment. Things seem to have been changing, but there used to be a time HF radio was needed.
* IFR rating. I understand it is almost mandatory, though there have been exceptions.
* return flight. The usual weather will give you a tailwind on your outbound, conversely a headwind when returning home. This gets worse as you fly higher, which you want to do to limit the risks of ditching.
* &c &c &c

And what might you mean by "how many times would we have to refuse" ? Looks like a typo, perhaps, I can make nothing of it.

A US citizen shouldn’t require a visa for Canada, Denmark (Greenland). Iceland, the EU (including Slovenia and Croatia). Likely no document check after an intra-Schengen flight - but possible.

Immersion suit always worn, as well as the lifejacket. The north Atlantic is always cold, time to death in water at 10C is 1-3 hours without one.

Also, your concept of is far too vague. In a PA24 it would be quite feasible - if you could manage to lay hold on one - and indeed has been done repeatedly. In a Rotax-powered LSA or such it still isn't impossible, but it does need a lot more budget/time/headstrength/patience. Many levels in between...

Why the avoidance of refuelling... Why the desperation to avoid showing visas/passports.

Very suspicious indeed from a first poster. Best remain unanswered.

I share that concern, @3W, but we must concede T/S is from a country very little aware of the outside world, generally. There might be a bad conscience indeed, but sheer ignorance could be another explanation, it is not uncommon at all in them US of A. We should not discourage T/S from looking abroad! but neither should the multiple issues be underestimated.

That, or maybe a writer researching a book. We've had a few on here over the years - some of the conversations can be quite entertaining.

G

I am surprised nobody has mentioned that flying a private aircraft instead of a common carrier would provide virtually no advantage in terms of visa avoidance in Europe, if one is otherwise required to have a visa. That is, there are international airports where you may not be checked, but counting on that would be unwise.

@Genghis: if this is from a writer, she/he might well improve on spelling and grammar! :)

@Silvaire: admitting I never left Europe, and also admitting I do am biased against US'ans in general, I still want to point out I come across people from many countries, working in Brussels and living only 20 kms off. Not that all Europeans have much broader knowledge, it depends on the country. France is poor in this respect and Spain is worse. And yes, many people never leave their own country, and even if they do it is often without taking any interest in the place they are visiting - I think equally low of the typical Belgian tourist who travels to Spain or Turkey on a charter plane, to spend two weeks on the beach and/or disco, and only eats "bifstèk-frites"! But if I get in touch with a foreigner who blatantly hasn't prepared the trip at all, it is usually a US'an. Yourself are an obvious exception, and are well aware of that. I do like your image of "an adult Disneyland"!

Anything PA32/C206 or bigger, two days from NYC to UK (easily). Did a ferry of a PA32 last year from Bahamas to France, 2.5 (long but easy) days.

Consider instead a yacht.

In Australia we'd call it "doing a Mokbel".

Fair point, but not all writers have been published (or ever will be), and having been an editor from time to time of both an encyclopaedia and an academic journal, you may take my word for it that some "professional" users of written English are not as good as the average standard on this thread! I used to subscribe to a professional writers newsletter (well, some of us were) that always contained a degree of poorly written bleating about "why won't these bar-steward editors ever publish me". On the other hand I recently joined the Society of Authors (a UK centric trade union for writers) who won't let you in unless you have at least one published book, and self published doesn't (normally) count - the standards of written English in their newsletter and website are things of beauty. So, not all is lost.

On the other point,all countries have well travelled intellectuals, just as all countries have closed minded homebodies. I am unconvinced that generalising, purely based upon the relative proportions, does much good on any level.

G