Proposed new rules for private flights outside the USA

[Rick Gardner]

I urge all SOAP members who have not responded to the US Customs and Border Protection Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) to do so before the November 19, 2007 deadline. In its current form, the NPRM would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many pilots who enjoy flying to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and the Caribbean to comply and does not reflect the reality of the resources and infrastructure available to pilots on international private flights.

Caribbean Sky Tours and a number of different private and government groups and associations are working in conjunction with AOPA to respond to the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) and we are meeting regularly. AOPA has set up a step-by-step process to provide CBP with your comments which can be found at: http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/customs/

We believe that a strong response by the pilot community to this NPRM is extremely important to demonstrate that the NPRM needs to be modified to reflect the resources available to private pilots flying internationally while still allowing CBP to protect our borders