As the overseas touring season is upon us, an update on the General Aviation Report (GAR) form is due. Last year, you may recall, HMRC and Border Force quietly amended the rules (Commissioners Directions) for GARs, and required advance notification via GAR for all airfields, even the so-called designated ports of entry. There were further unwelcome notice changes especially for the Channel Islands.  After numerous complaints and meetings with representatives from the main GA organisations (the LAA was represented by LAA Director James Tannock) they agreed to treat offending GA pilots with a light touch for the time being, especially if there had been weather or operational issues.

However, the level of scrutiny has changed and there is now a much stronger focus on compliance and on officers meeting aircraft, so ensure that you know the rules and follow them. You can’t just pitch up from overseas without a GAR nowadays. Your Flight Plan is NOT enough, although the authorities will read that as well, and notice if a matching GAR is lacking. There are three ways to submit your GAR:

1) Online via the AOPA website (which is currently free);

2) via OnlineGAR (or linking third-party application like SkyDemon, some smartphone apps, etc.) which feed online data to the authorities (user account required and fees payable) or

3) by emailing a completed HRMC GAR form to the National Coordination Unit (NCU) direct (free). The website is at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/general-aviation-operators-and-pilots-notification-of-flights. Read the documents there, please.

A few days ago the HMRC GAR form changed. It is an Excel form which you can fill in and save to your computer, before emailing it as an attachment to the NCU. It has some attached guidance that incorporates couple of misleading statements, which members have found confusing. Specifically:

1)  It is NOT mandatory to use an ICAO code for aircraft type – a short text, e.g. “Zenair 601” or even “homebuilt” would suffice. The list of types provided is far from complete, and does not contain most LAA aircraft that have ICAO codes.

2)  If an ICAO code is not available for your airfield (e.g. a farm strip) then it is expected that the field is described thus “ZZZZ Mount Airy Farm HU15 2BD”.  The postcode is useful, however any text will be accepted.

3) Place of birth is NOT required because it is not ingested in the system (apparently it remains on the form because some police officers objected to the reduction in information).

Thanks to John Murray for contacting Border Force to query these issues. We hope that changes will be made to the GAR guidance at the earliest opportunity.