AirVenture 2007

Flight Planning and Preparation for the Bahamas Trip

The 2013 Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot's Guide was essential. It has checklists for the international flying procedures and emergency equipment, detailed info on every airport, and lots of information about where to stay and what to do. It was a great reference in flight as well for frequencies and runway directions.

I'd also recommend the Caribbean Flying Adventures website. It doesn't cost much to join and has some very useful information I found nowhere else. You can download General Declaration and International Flight Plan forms from the site including filled-out examples. It's much easier and informative than the government web sites, believe me. When you are a member, you can also email or call Jim Parker -- the owner -- directly although I never took advantage of this feature.

Ft. Pierce was a great jumping off and arriving spot. You can rent a lift raft from the FBO: APP Jet Center. There is a very good restaurant right in the FBO building. And the FBO is right next to the Customs/Immegration building.

You really need a smartphone (using Verizon) down in the islands to make calls to close your flight plan or notify US customs.

A notepad computer of some sort is very useful as well to look at weather or file a notice of arrival and traveler manifest through eAPIS.

SPOT worked great. My wife and dad liked tracking my progress online.

My Garmin GPS 496 worked great the entire trip. Every airport we landed at except one was in the GPS database.

Flight Planning and Preparation for the Bahamas Trip

You just don't hop in the plane and head out over the ocean to the Bahamas. This flight required a lot of research and planning.

Here are some lessons learned for flying the Bahamas:

The 2013 Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot's Guide was essential. It has checklists for the international flying procedures and emergency equipment, detailed info on every airport, and lots of information about where to stay and what to do. It was a great reference in flight as well for frequencies and runway directions.

I'd also recommend the Caribbean Flying Adventures website. It doesn't cost much to join and has some very useful information I found nowhere else.   You can download General Declaration and International Flight Plan forms from the site including filled-out examples.   It's much easier and informative than the government web sites, believe me. When you are a member, you can also email or call Jim Parker -- the owner -- directly although I never took advantage of this feature.

Ft. Pierce was a great jumping off and arriving spot. You can rent a lift raft from the FBO: APP Jet Center. There is a very good restaurant right in the FBO building. And the FBO is right next to the Customs/Immegration building.

You really need a smartphone (using Verizon) down in the islands to make calls to close your flight plan or notify US customs.

A notepad computer of some sort is very useful as well to look at weather or file a notice of arrival and traveler manifest through eAPIS.

SPOT worked great.  My wife and dad liked tracking my progress online.

My Garmin GPS 496 worked great the entire trip. Every airport we landed at except one was in the GPS database.