GA Helicopter Flying in Turkey

[L#cky Strike]

Does anyone have any hints on flying in coastal Turkey? Particularly entering from Greece in a UK registered helicopter. Any advice on how to source and get approval for HLS would be appreciated.

[JAA/FAA Pilot]

Look for a handler at the airport where you will enter the country. It will take a minimum of three days to get a permit and you will have to submit date, time, route flown and details of all people on board. No wiggle room for changes.
Have fun!

[L#cky Strike]

Thanks FAA. I didn't expect it to be easy! Do you know of any documents laying this out in a readable form?

[flying.eth]

Flying in Turkey

Hi,

I may have the opportunity to spend some time in Turkey. Since I will be there for a while I was curious what all is involved in someone with an FAA license flying there?

Thanks

[Agaricus bisporus]

From experience with boating there I'd suggest the following scenario.

No official will speak a word of English. You'll have to use an agent who will promise whatever you ask is easy and quick. He'll sound confident and knowledgeable. You'll hand over a lot of money or (worse) a credit card imprint for the relevant "permissions" but probably not fill in any forms (any forms will be in Turkish, no translations are ever available). If you do get to fill in forms you'll have no idea what they are or what you're signing for. One may well be authorization for him to bill you an unrestricted amount. He will however take all your documents - licence, passport, C of A, C of R, tech log,the lot. No photocopies! - and demand some that you don't have (relevant stuff like your TV licence or your national health card). He'll come back two hours later than agreed and tell you the officials he needed to see are out of the office and come back tomorrow. Tomorrow is Saturday. He'll meet you with more smiles and promises, recheck today's exchange rate in the newspaper and reassured you'll go off to the cafe for two hours and wait a further two for his return. When he does arrive there will be lunch on his shirt and a sad story about how he had to call the chap out to the office specially as its Saturday (this took him by surprise, apparently, and anyway doubles the price) and as the documentation wasn't right a special dispensation had to be granted. Same again. Then he'll hand you the paperwork which probably won't relate closely to what you asked for despite having cost five times what you'd thought, and it will turn out later that you could have done it yourself in half an hour for free the day before. Meantime you've been charged 2 days parking fees on the 737 scale because that's the smallest they have, and only discover on departing that had you moved it to the other side of the apron it would have been free. But no one thought it helpful to tell you that.

Having said that they always smile and are lovely people when not in "official" mode and Turkey's a great place. You'll need patience and a deep pocket. Oh, and when the business is finished the monolingual official will bid you goodbye in perfect english...

Enjoy.

[SeattlePilot]

I highly recommend a handling service (like Gozen Air) for this.. Dealing with the Turkish CAA on your own is a nightmare..

Cheers

[Bosphorus]

Plan your trip. remember that you have to pass the İstanbul FIR from a report point. Since the FLs' are very high for IFR routes of Turkey, VFR on IFR routes is highly recommended. If you find the opportunity, have a look at ATS/RNAV route chart from Turkish AIP or Jeppesen.
Contact with a Turkish Handling Service (Gozen Air could be the first option);
24 hrs in advance will be enough. Tell them about your intention. Prepare, scan and send all the required papers to them with an e-mail.
Last summer, having paid 1500 € to a handling service in Thessaloniki/Greece, i can easily say that it is max 1/4 of it in İstanbul.

Enjoy your flight...