IFR Bahamas?

[smf]

Does anyone know about filing IFR in the Bahamas? I went to the Out Island
(Stella Maris) this past weekend. On return I filed a DVFR plan. It took
about 40 minutes flying time to get close enough to Nassau to contact
Naussau App. Does Mia center cover that far out?

thanks

Steve

[David Wenk]

Hi Steve,

My colleague Nick Selby is an instrument-rated pilot who did a lot of IFR
time in the Bahamas earlier this year, while researching information for
Flyguides. I'm attaching below some advice he had about IFR flight in the
Bahamas.

-- DW

David Wenk
Flyguides, Inc
http://flyguides.com


From Nick:

According to Miami FSS, Miami Oceanic Approach (try 132.3 or 127.22 from
Long
Island) has the airspace all the way to Stella Maris, and they can pick you
up and take you all the way home (Nassau Approach is really only covering
the
area of New Providence, Andros and extreme northern Exumas).

You must have a flight plan filed before you depart - you cannot airfile an
international flight plan. And don't forget to call US Customs before you
leave, at least an hour before your intended arrival time back in South
Florida (or wherever), and to put ADCUS on your flight plan (you hae to do
both; the ADCUS remark does NOT relieve you of the responsibility to
telephone Customs in advance of your arrival).

FWIW, every time I go between the US and Bahamas I file IFR just becvause I
like the radar coverage. I've only ever personally done it out of either
Nassau, Freeport or Bimini; each time with the first two I've let them hand
me over to Miami Center; which seemed to pick me up very shortly after
getting to my cruise altitude for the flight, which I try to make as high as
possible for obvious reasons in a single! When I went out of Bimini I just
started calling into Miami immediately.

By the way, someone wrote and asked us about this: if you're flying in a
rental airplane or if your name isn't the registered owner of the airplane,
you're technically required to have a letter from the owner which
specifically grants you permission to operate the aircraft within the
Bahamas. Have the letter mention your name, passport number, the N-number
and
the dates during which you're permitted to use the airplane. Now, note that
I've never been asked for this on three round trips and about 100 hours of
Bahamas flying in three different rental airplanes, but technically it's a
good thing to have on board for either side.

FYI Flyguides.com is in the process of putting together a free
online Bahamas Flying Guide which contains all this information and more,
including travel information for the Islands of the Bahamas. A free
registration is required. We'd love to get feedback from pilots who have
been
or are contemplating trips to the Bahamas to tell us how we're doing, what's
missing, what we've done right and what we've done wrong; you can start at
http://flyguides.com/destinations/?d=683 .

Hope all this helps!

Nick



"smf" > wrote in message
.. .
> Does anyone know about filing IFR in the Bahamas? I went to the Out Island
> (Stella Maris) this past weekend. On return I filed a DVFR plan. It took
> about 40 minutes flying time to get close enough to Nassau to contact
> Naussau App. Does Mia center cover that far out?
>
> thanks
>
> Steve
>
>

[Nick Selby]

According to Miami FSS, Miami Oceanic Approach (try 132.3 or 127.22
from Long Island) has the airspace all the way to Stella Maris, and
they can pick you up and take you all the way home (Nassau Approach is
really only covering the area of New Providence, Andros and extreme
northern Exumas).

You must have a flight plan filed before you depart - you cannot
airfile an international flight plan. And don't forget to call US
Customs before you leave, at least an hour before your intended arrival
time back in South Florida (or wherever), and to put ADCUS on your
flight plan (you have to do both; the ADCUS remark does NOT relieve you
of the responsibility to telephone Customs in advance of your arrival).


FWIW, every time I go between the US and Bahamas I file IFR just
becvause I like the radar coverage. I've only ever personally done it
out of either Nassau, Freeport or Bimini; each time with the first two
I've let them hand me over to Miami Center; which seemed to pick me up
very shortly after getting to my cruise altitude for the flight, which
I try to make as high as possible for obvious reasons in a single! When
I went out of Bimini I just started calling into Miami immediately.

By the way, someone wrote and asked us about this: if you're flying in
a rental airplane or if your name isn't the registered owner of the
airplane, you're technically required to have a letter from the owner
which specifically grants you permission to operate the aircraft within
the Bahamas. Have the letter mention your name, passport number, the
N-number and the dates during which you're permitted to use the
airplane. Now, note that I've never been asked for this on three round
trips and about 100 hours of Bahamas flying in three different rental
airplanes, but technically it's a good thing to have on board for
either side.

FYI Flyguides.com is in the process of putting together a free online
Bahamas Flying Guide which contains all this information and more,
including travel information for the Islands of the Bahamas. A free
registration is required. We'd love to get feedback from pilots who
have been or are contemplating trips to the Bahamas to tell us how
we're doing, what's missing, what we've done right and what we've done
wrong; you can start at http://flyguides.com/destinations/?d=683 .

Hope all this helps!

Nick
smf wrote:
> Does anyone know about filing IFR in the Bahamas? I went to the Out
Island
> (Stella Maris) this past weekend. On return I filed a DVFR plan. It
took
> about 40 minutes flying time to get close enough to Nassau to contact
> Naussau App. Does Mia center cover that far out?
>
> thanks
>
> Steve