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eAPIS experience
In the prior thread "....performance" Rick and Ernie are discussing upcoming international flights. I'm wondering if they or other frequent international travelers have accumulated any experience with the new US CBP regulations yet. I have waded through the on-line process of changing over my decal account and receiving my sender ID to submit departure and arrival notices and tried my best to understand the practical implications of complying with this latest usurpation of our right to travel by air but numerous questions remain. Such as: how large of a working window is implied in an "estimated" time of arrival or departure? Is the old administrative rule of +15 Min / - nothing in use or is it now some other standard? It's hard to imagine filing a departure notice say a week in advance and then hitting your departure estimate within that accuracy. If a revised ETA/ETD is needed, I don't see any way to revise the original notice. Does one then need to start all over with a new manifest submission and wait for a new departure/arrival clearence? If so, then what happens to the original submission? Does it time out like an unopened flight plan or must it be cancelled somehow? What is received in the return e-mail authorization? The regs say something about receiving additional instructions, whatever that may be. I have read some comments from others in other forums that they think the one hour arrival phone call to your US port of entry will still be required and the completion of a paper immigration form will also still be required. If that's the case, then the whole electronic notification system is just another layer of bureaucratic headache. A call to AOPA flight support was no help whatsoever. "We don't know anything" was the response. Any actual field experience anyone can contribute would be appreciated.
Within the last few months we've had the Washington ADIZ go permanent, this Customs e-APIS adopted as regulation with the force of law, TFR's created for any & everything and background and ID checks to have access to air carrier airports adopted. Well into the works are e-APIS type flight permission for aircraft over 12,500 lbs., mandatory ADS-B compliance and mandatory 406mhz emergency beacons. And the user fee debate is far from over. It's especially galling to listen to AOPA, EAA, etc. try to spin these losses of freedom to fly as successes in as much as they could have been much worse. I probably won't live long enough to see GA in this country actually grind to a halt, but it's well on its way.
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