HOW TO FLY TO THE BAHAMAS IN 2022! - A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
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- čas přidán 19. 03. 2022
- For a private pilot, flying internationally to the Bahamas with your closest family and/or friends is bucket list item, but it can be an intimidating task. No doubt, it's a wonderful adventure, but it's one that can be burdened with mental obstacles to overcome in regard to the procedures and paperwork. With this guide, I've attempted to explain the critical points required to plan and execute the flight. In doing so, we hope to eliminate uncertainty and encourage other pilots to follow in our footsteps. We truly hope you find it helpful for you own planning purposes.
We LOVE comments, greatly appreciate your views, and if you have any suggestions for the channel, we always look forward to reading your input.
RUNNING LIST OF COMPLETED BAHAMIAN AIRPORTS OF ENTRY IN OUR BAHAMAS SERIES:
1 - West End, Grand Bahama (MYGW)
RUNNING LIST OF COMPLETED STATES IN OUR 50 STATE CHALLENGE:
1 - Florida
2 - Georgia
3 - South Carolina
4 - Alabama
5 - Louisiana
6 - Texas
7 - Mississippi
8 - Tennessee
9 - Wisconsin
10 - Illinois
Aircraft is a 1979 Turbo Piper Aztec - Model F (N2441M).
Disclaimer: I am a private pilot and we make videos of our flights for entertainment only. We truly hope you enjoy watching, but please keep in mind that editing removes important context and videos are not to be viewed as instructional.
Music: Epidemic Sound
www.epidemicsound.com/referra… - Auta a dopravní prostředky
This video is a little different from our usual video, and is meant to be a guide for novice pilots who are hoping to make a flight to the Bahamas in the coming year(s). PLEASE COMMENT BELOW with YOUR EXPERIENCES and SUGGESTIONS if you've already made the trip!
Fellow physician here. I flew my family to Exuma in March in our Piper Jetprop. We stayed at a VRBO and felt like we had the whole island to ourselves. The beaches are amazing. I had not watched your video at the time, but I did have the AOPA book. It was invaluable. The Covid restrictions are of course gone, and US customs now wants you to call them four hours instead of one before coming back, also we didn’t do any of the customs paperwork going into the Bahamas, as the FBO took care of it for a small fee. Everything else in your video was spot on. Most peoples’ experience of the Bahamas is Nassau from a cruise ship. The lesser known Islands or paradise compared to Nassau.
What a FANTASTIC video. Thanks for this.
Thank you very much. Happy to hear you found it useful!
Great video - super appreciative of you putting it together. Maybe in a few years I'll be able to get that together once the plane is done.
Happy to do it. I'm already planning on doing another video in 2023 to include any updates and lessons learned from Bahamian flying this year. Keep us posted on your progress!
Great Video!!!! Thanks for investing your time to share your knowledge and experience.
Thank you so much for taking the time to put this very detailed information together for us. Bahamas has been on my bucket list for a while but I’ve been intimidated by the process. You have done away with much of the mystery. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the trip this year. Thanks again!!!
Absolutely! We’re happy to help and are very glad to hear you found this video helpful! Nothing could make us happier than to hear about your trip once you’ve made it there and back. Please keep us in mind once you’ve pulled it off and let us know how it went. We’re always happy to answer questions prior to your trip if anything comes up during the planning phase.
@@DoubleDawgDare Well... we are planning on going right after Thanksgiving this year and I just reviewed this video. I have to admit that I'm still a little nervous but I'm excited about the trip. Thanks again for putting this together. Wish me luck!!! 🤞
Thank you so much! Great information very well presented.
No problem, Wade! We’re glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the kind comment!
After accumulating over 30,000 hours of flying fighters and airliners, it’s time to explore the Bahamas in my own airplane. Yours is by far the most comprehensive video on the subject that I have found. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to applying the knowledge that you have passed on from your own experiences.
Chris, we appreciate your thoughtful comment, and we're so glad you found our video helpful. We hope to put together and even better updated video sometime in the next year. Keep us posted on your adventures in the islands; we love to hear back from our viewers!
Excellent guidance well presented! I'm sure I'll be watching it several more times between now and next May.
We appreciate the compliment! We'll be providing some new guidance in the next month or two given the changes to the COVID rules. All improvements, though, and traveling to the islands is now easier!
Very instructive video. I really appreciate that you take the time to share this detailed informations.
We’re happy to do it and glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Great information! Thanks for sharing.
We're really glad you found it helpful and we're happy to share!
Thanks so much! Great work. Planning a trip next spring there. Go Dawgs
Happy to do it and we're glad you enjoyed it! We'll have several more videos on traveling to the Bahamas in the next few months and we hope you'll find them helpful. Let us know how your trip planning is coming along and reach out if you have any concerns with which we can help. Go Dawgs!
Thank you. I've only looked at the first three minutes of the video, but I WILL be back. I first wish to review your trip and then review your guide.
. . .and I'm back. Reviewed your videos from SUA to West End and back. Great trip! Your Bahamian overview was on point. Great video. Back in the day, I probably hit the islands 20 - 30 times. Twas great! Left Florida in 2014 with plans to come back in 2019. COVID got in the way. With the pandemic ending, I'm ready to go back. Thanks for the insight.
Absolutely! Thank you for commenting, and we're glad you enjoyed the video. Best wishes on your next trip to the islands!
I’m an airline guy and I’ve flown to every continent except Antarctica, that being said I had no clue how to handle the clerical work. Thank you so much for doing this video. Extremely informative and helpful!
Your comment made my day! I'm so glad you enjoyed our video and found it helpful!
Great job!! Awesome video.
Thank you, SBP! We love your channel by the way. You do an excellent job yourself!
Thanks for sharing
Our pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it!
Normally I would rather eat a bug than watch a CZcams video, but this was well worth the time. Thanks for putting it together.
Happy to do it, Paul, and we're glad you enjoyed it. We'll have many more instructional videos to come on Bahamas flight as we make more trips to the islands. We hope you continue to find them worthwhile!
Wow very detailed infoPlanning my first flight to Bimini from S. Florida. Thanks for the info!
We're happy to hear that you found it helpful! Have a great trip!
Thank you for putting together this wonderful video chocked full of great information.
The one thing I would like to recommend is using FlashPass for eAPIS manifests which simplifies the procedure and is quite user friendly in comparison to the government site. Less intimidating especially for first time border/ADIZ crossings.
One other point I would like to add is KPFR is the most northerly AOE on the east coast that can be used when returning from the Caribbean without an Overflight Permit.
The only other comment is the use of auto inflating life jackets. The majority of my flying is in amphibs where my passengers and I always wear manual inflating life jacket so in the event of ending up inverted the life jackets will not inflate until safely out of the aircraft. The last thing you want happening is the life jacket inflating and working against you after unbuckling your seatbelt. It is a somewhat different situation in a low wing retractable gear aircraft that has much less chance of becoming inverted but high wing fixed gear travellers should be aware of the danger.
Again great video and we are getting excited for our next US/Bahamas trip in just under 4 weeks. FYI. Home base is CYXR.
Terrific comment - Exactly what I were hoping to see. You've surely helped some other pilots with your detailed suggestions! I've never heard of FlashPass, but have since looked into it online; it seems like a great product and thank you for the suggestion! I can't wait to hear more about your upcoming trip. Sounds like we're going to be swapping stories over the next few months. Wishing you nothing but tailwinds, blue skies, and great memories.
@@DoubleDawgDare just to keep you updated our Aztec wasn’t out of the annual in time so we are in the Bahamas with our 182P amphib. Unfortunately the early February date to have it ready was drastically missed.
A 182P amphib sounds AWESOME for the Bahamas!
Light Sport pilots are also permitted to travel to the bahamas and thus no medical will be required for those Sport pilots that make the trip!
Thanks, Maurice! Excellent information!
Very nice video AJ. We live in Jupiter, and hangar our plane at F45. My wife passed her check ride last April in our Scottish Aviation Bulldog. It is in the experimental exhibition category and need to find out if I am allowed to fly it to the Bahamas. The plan is to make some phone calls tomorrow...Thanks for the video. Rudie
Thank you, Rudie! I've been to F45 a few times for avionics work. Nice airport for sure.
How did the phone calls go? I'm not well versed in the experimental category for traveling to the Bahamas and would love to find out what the rules are.
@@DoubleDawgDare No update yet. I have reached out but no reply. I found the pdf for experimental home build but nothing about experimental exhibition......yet!
I used to take car of a Lance for a businessman. He told me that he was going to take his single engine plane to the Bahamas and asked me to be sure the engine was going to be okay. I told him that the engine would not know if it was over water or over land, so if he was okay flying it over the land, what difference would it make? And, to get back to you on the first of your videos I watched 4 or 5 months ago, we were discussing cabin heaters. Ricky Nelson was mentioned. He was the son of Ozzie and Harriet a popular TV show, back before you were born, in the fuzzy black and white days. He later became a popular singer and had several pop hits. He was traveling around in a DC-3 and when over Dekalb, Texas, December 31st, 1985 the plane went down. The crash was due to a faulty heater which started a fire in the aft portion of the plane. One of the TV shows featured Ozzie going for a ride in the back seat of an F-100. He was wound up pretty tight when he got out. On the way home he rear ended a car ahead of him at a stop light. He was telling his neighbor Thorney about it when Thorney asked him why he was in the minor accident. Well, says Ozzie, when I came upon the stopped car I hauled back on the steering wheel, thinking I could fly right over it.
I enjoyed the story about Ozzie; thanks for sharing. I also understand the apprehension your Lance owner had... and it's why I ultimately bought a twin. Even with a twin, I've experienced the sensation of "Automatic Rough" when I can't see land. Are you familiar with this aviation phrase? It was recently new to me. I'm getting over it slowly and I'm getting more comfortable with every over water flight. All that said, I still don't use that heater.
Great video!
To get the unique squawk code did you request flight following on the ground? Or was that from the DVFR filed plan?
Also I was thinking of printing the immigration cards beforehand but I thought they each had a unique code so I had to get them from them, is this not the case?
Thank you! We did get our squawk code on the ground for this video series, however on our most recent trip, the ground/tower would not provide a code for DVFR filing, and had us contact FSS on the radio after taking off.
In regard to immigration cards, I'm not aware that they can be printed, as they are carbon copy format, and we used the cards the customs office provides - they're pretty simple - and they are happy to provide additional cards for future trips once you get there.
@@DoubleDawgDare Thank you!
Happy to help! Good luck on your trip when the time comes!
Come to Canada, I’m at CYGK - friendly airport, customs weekdays 9 am - 4 pm
We've already got plans to take a shot at Nova Scotia just before Oshkosh, and CYGK is on the way to Wisconsin. We will absolutely consider stopping by - I've put it on the list of places to go.
What is the fuel situation in the Bahamas? Price, availability, etc. Since it was a short flight you probably didn't need fuel.
You're correct, we didn't need it for our first flight. In general, fuel availability is good, but cost is generally higher than in the U.S. by a few dollars a gallon. The AOPA book I suggested in the video actually states where fuel is available for every airport in the islands. That said, true availability should be confirmed with a phone call before you go. I would suggest calling to ensure that transportation from the airport, customs and immigration officials, and fuel are all available before departing.
Saw your plane in SSI
You got it. We were just there. We were in St. Simons for our wedding anniversary. We should have a video about it in a couple weeks. Thanks for the comment!
Love SSI, I have a video about it in my channel.
What frequency did u used to close flight plan in air?
The frequency to close the flight plan in the air changes. On the way to the Bahamas it was the tower controller at Freeport, once I had West End in sight, but you can always close from the ground once you land. Returning to the US, it was the Stuart tower controller.
Anyone find a sample “letter of authorization” since I don’t own the aircraft.
I haven't seen one, but there are a few airplane rental outfits in south Florida; I suspect one of these businesses could provide you with an example if you reach out.
Can’t you just file the flightplan with foreflight?
Truthfully, I don't know if you can file internationally with foreflight. We have always used Garmin Pilot. There are some additional details not listed in Garmin Pilot that I always need to address on the official flight planning webpage.