Captain's Log: Flying from Canada to US and back with Customs Clearance at a Border Airport

The post below covers cross-border flying with an on-route stop-over for customs clearance.  Refer to the earlier post for a detailed step-by-step process for cross-border flying when you are doing it for the first time.

You would want to clear customs at the border airport before proceeding on course for two good reasons:

• Avoid delay related anxieties due to weather/routing delays, making customs clearance ETA filed times not possible to meet (which requires a +/- 15 min arrival.) (not to mention a huge wrench a weather related diversion to another airport will throw!)
• Ability to fly to the 1000s of airports in the US that does not have customs (or an airport where you have to pay for customs)

My business partner and I needed to get to Philadelphia for a couple of meetings, and that's a two-day trip from where we are (6 hour drive each way, or 6 hour+ total trip time when flying commercial with drive time to airport 2.5+ hours away, clearing customs and catching connecting flights).

Instead of a treacherous drive starting at 5 AM and returning the next day at 12 midnight or later, I can wake up at a normal hour, hit the gym or go for a run as usual, get to Philadelphia and back before dinner time as it's just a two-hour enjoyable flight!

Day before departure

• Check weather, NOTAMS, TFRs (Temporary Flight Restrictions) and hot/cold status of MOAs (Military Operation Areas).  As an aside, TFRs and MOAs are less of an issue when flying IFR as you get directed around these.

1. Call customs at the border airport to ensure that they can come at your planned arrival time
• We were clearing in KART (Watertown) serviced by Alexandra Bay customs, so a quick call confirmed that they were available for our planned ETA at 10 AM
• Alexandra Bay Customs: 315-482-2065 (ask for duty officer - extention 5#)
2. File eApis (this only took 10 min. to file as the previous manifest details are saved so that you don't need to reenter the aircraft, pilot and passenger info.) https://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/eapisj/eapis/login
• Arrival Airport (this would be the border airport) KART
• ETA (at the border airport) 10:00
• Address of where you are staying (since it's a day trip, I gave the FBO address in Philly) - just had to lookup FBOs at the airport and call them to be familiar with the airport - a good resource to lookup airports is aopa.org/airports do advanced search and lookup closest to your address
• I filed eAPIS both there and back to save a step (but you just have to do it an hour before departure)
3. File VFR flight plan from CYGK to KART at 1-866-WXBRIEF
• I filed a VFR flight plan since it's a short hop over to the border airport
4. File IFR flight plan from KART to KPNE at 1-800-WXBRIEF

Print airport diagrams, approaches and departures for backup.

Departure from CYGK

• Check weather and NOTAMS
• Call customs two hours before (just to check they know you are coming); duty officer would have your eAPIS at this time - and you can ask which area of the airport they are going to be in.
• Depart at planned departure time, switch to Wheelersack at 124.875 when clearing the zone (got transponder code 0224 and was asked to stay VFR at all times)
• When nearing KART, call Wheelersack to say that you are switching to 123.0 for Watertown
• Got no response with the UNICOM at KART, and there was no traffic, so I approached overhead the field 500 ft. above circuit, determined that 24 was the best runway, joined mid-left downwind at circuit altitude, landed, taxied A, B, E to the FBO.  Total flight time was just 8 min!

When we taxied to the FBO, we shut down and stayed in the plane without opening the door, customs officer came out, scanned the plane with a device, asked for our passport and cleared us.  

Departure from KART

I called 315-772-8713 to open the flight plan at KART (since KART is a non-towered airport) and got my clearance:  Cleared from the Watertown airport to KPNE as filed (direct).  Climb to 5000, contact Wheelersack at 124.87, transponder code 7303 and clearance valid until 14:35 (at that time it was 14:17 so we had 18 min to get our wheels up in the air)

From Wheelersack, we got Syracuse Approach 126.125, then Boston Approach 133.25 which gave a new route MAZIE to ARD, then Burlington Approach 118.6, then Willksburogh Approach 124.5 which gave us FJC to MAZIE and asked us to climb to 6000, then Allentown 124.45 which gave direct MAZIE and then Philadelphia approach at 123.8 which had us descend to 4000 then to 3000 and cleared us for the visual and to contact KPNE tower which asked us to join right base 24.  

It's also good to know how to insert and delete waypoints (I had to insert a waypoint when I got new ones).  Scroll to the the waypoint where you want the new waypoint inserted BEFORE and enter the waypoint.

Eg. KART
MAZIE

ARD

KPNE

to insert FJC before ARD, go to ARD and insert your way point there, your new waypoint will be inserted before ARD like this...

KART
MAZIE

FJC

ARD

KPNE

Having electronic charts with the iPad was very helpful to lookup, insert and modify details on the fly.

We taxied and shut down by the apron at Atlantic FBO.  Total flight time 2 hours.

Departure from KPNE back to CYGK

1. eAPIS had already been filed the previous day
2. I called 1-800-WXBRIEF to get briefing and filed flight plan
3. I called Canadian Customs two hours before, said we have CANPASS and gave arrival details... we were precleared, and was given a clearance number!  

This was my first time using the CANPASS I got months ago.  Getting CANPASS ($40 and valid for five years) pays off because you can land outside of customs hours seven days a week, all days of the year!  Without it you need to land (at our home airport) 4 pm on a weekday, or face being routed 2 hours out of the way to another airport to clear customs.  Get CANPASS if you are doing cross-border flying as it drastically increases flying practicality and convenience.

Clearance at KPNE for the trip back went as follows...

Clearance Delivery: Cleared to CYGK via runway heading.  ARD (Yardley), Allentown (FJC), V149, Bimmington (CFB), V29, SYR, direct.  Climb to 2000, expect 4000 after 10 min., contact 123.8 and squak 6613 

It was a good idea to write down both the call sign and the name when copying clearance (eg. ARD and Yardley) because on-route they referred to it as Yardley and it would have been difficult to look things up)

Programming the above into the GPS took sometime.  I have to lookup how to program Victor Routes in: I could not select V29 for example, so I manually looked up the waypoints and typed them in which was time consuming.  

Ground: Taxi instructions were a bit complicated.  A2 cross 33, Left on Charlie, Right on Golf, Left on Julliet and intersection departure 2-4 (this is after they corrected themselves a couple of times)

Tower: Cleared for take off, turn right 330.

I made sure that our runway heading was aligned with the directional gyroscope, departed and turned right 330 while contacting Philly at 123.8.  Philly 123.8 said climb and maintain 3000.  Direct FJC.  Allentown 124.45 climb 5000, Wilksborough 124.5 climb to 6000.  Bimmington 118.6.  Syracuse approach 126.12 - I asked for routing KART then CYGK to go around water which was approved.  Then Wheelersack 124.87 which gave direct CYGK (I had passed the large waterbody which I didn't want to flyover so I took the direct).  Then Montreal 134.67.  Then 122.5 CYGK.  We were doing 150-160 kts ground speed at times thanks go the terrific tailwind from the south.  Total flight time an hour and fifty five min... left the house a little after 9 am, and made it in for dinner by 7 pm!