Professional Pilot, September 2016

Micronesia where if a fuel barge is delayed only scheduled airlines are going to get fuel Problem potential At smaller locations with infrequent bizav traffic local handlers may only have expertise in handling airline ops and may be unfamiliar with GA requirements Airport operating hours could be an issue with some locations operating only from sunrise to sunset and without airport overtime At locations with low GA traffic volume dont expect services infrastructure communications and support services such as catering to be the same standard as what youre used to at larger destinations says Hoover You may need to cater from your hotel reposition in a supervisory handling agent and deal with any local credit or security issues that may present themselves Kang points out that language barriers are often more prevalent at smaller locations without regular international bizav traffic You may be at a smaller airport in India or China where even if the handlers speak English you may not understand them They may say yes or nod their head but this could just be their culture or an attempt to please you by giving you an answer they feel you want to hear Some smaller airports here and there around the world have roads or small paths crossing runways and its not uncommon to find animals or people on or about the runway We researched one smaller airport in Europe where inbound crews needed to click the radio in order to turn on a stop light at the runway crossing says Hanna We often run across 62 PROFESSIONAL PILOT September 2016 ROR Koror Palau can be a good strategic tech stop for certain operations to and from SE Asia Be aware however that you may need to pay cash for fuel unique situations and procedural requirements for operation into smaller and remote airfields Planning for security Security for aircraft and occupants along with threat mitigation may pose heightened consideration at smaller far flung airport locations FAM International CEO Brian Leek points out that the world is generally becoming a more dangerous place from the perspective of petty and violent crime terrorism issues and local economic challenges Some remote locations are safer than others Smaller airports in China and India are relatively safe as both governments are very strict on airport security says Leek Pacific island locations although usually offering limited GA support are seldom risks from a security perspective But there are risky areas of the world that do require considerable advance security arrangements and where you may need to send in advance security teams Security and risks can be successfully managed anywhere with adequate advance planning There are parts of central Africa where significant security resources need to be arranged and deployed and operators may have to consider a go no go decision At more dangerous lawless locations you may be faced with either dealing with a local warlord or bringing in your own security team advises Kang In these places you dont just want some random security guard with a pistol onboard You may need a team of well equipped security contractors Leek cautions If you get to the point where you have to use a gun someone has not been sufficiently diligent in security planning Its important to have solid intelligence information prior to going in and in some cases youll need to have an advance security team there at the destination to meet your flight With adequate planning resources and up to date intelligence its possible to protect executives and crew almost anywhere in the world In more hazardous regions theres the consideration of keeping the aircraft at destination or repositioning to an alternate airfield Its important to weight up whats available locally in terms of aircraft security options hotels and local transport says Jeppesen Vendor Relations Mgr Europe Middle East Russia and Indian Ocean Region Mark OCarroll We had a recent case where an operator was flying to a remote airport in Africa and the hotel was some distance from the airport Originally theyd requested a minivan for crew transport However after talking with the local handler they arranged helicopters to reposition crew from the airport to the hotel Fuel credit and language barriers Fuel availability and credit along with fuel uplift hours are often issues at smaller destinations While larger Pacific island destinations such as NAN Nadi Intl Fiji have fuel availability and credit you may need to pay in cash at smaller destinations such as ROR Roman Tmetuchl Intl Palau We had a flight from China to ROR and the crew would have had to bring in 20000 to 30000 cash to pay for fuel uplift relates Kang Ultimately they chose to just tank Things get busy at CXI Christmas Island Kiribati when scheduled commercial flights arrive GA operators should be mindful of sunrise to sunset operating hours to avoid such peak times