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Who will be the first to put an RV on Cuba?

Vald, I bet I could talk to you for hours and hours. Your a pretty interesting guy.:)

How about you finish your RV asap and we go up as a flight? I know empty airspaces we can talk our ears off. Just don't tell the wife :D


 
i think that you may need to sleep in the plane! Lycoming parts might be more valuable than 54 Chevy parts. We could be flying home on commercial airlines. Need a hanger and armed guards at a high security airport before I donate my RV to the revolution!
 
i think that you may need to sleep in the plane! Lycoming parts might be more valuable than 54 Chevy parts. We could be flying home on commercial airlines. Need a hanger and armed guards at a high security airport before I donate my RV to the revolution!

It's all propaganda Stan which kept us out of a paradise for half a century. :D
 
If I understand correctly, there is currently zero GA activity in Cuba. With even just a little paranoia from the current government, I don't see free flight at sightseeing altitudes anytime soon.

I'd love to be wrong.
 
Roundabout way.

I have an ag pilot friend who went there to scuba dive what he called "incredible reefs"...and the way he did it was through an outfit named Scubacan. They're a Canadian company and they meet you in the Bahamas and fly from there to Cuba. The Cubans know not to stamp your passport, and you return to the USA by way of Nassau and that's the only stamp you'll have...so it gets done all the time.

Best,
 
Been to Cuba 3 times ... Saw a tour bus full of Americans once!

And yes, Cuba has never turned away Americans, it's always been the US Government imposing the restrictions. They indeed do not stamp your passport. you just get your visa as a piece of paper that you're to keep inside your passport.

And yeah, I've never seen any kind of GA aircraft there ... seems unlikely there would be anything ... maybe a couple of trainers for their national airline?
 
I've had the "fly to Cuba?" conversation several times over the past few weeks. It's a non-stop flight from 53VG :D

RV-8_AUX_range-575x589.jpg
 
True story

Many years ago while flying Bahamas route B646 from Nassau to key west I picked up two F16s. One on my wing and Miami center said there was one on my tail too. I inquired what I had done wrong and they replied "nothing just proceed direct KeyWest. After landing I found out that some folks had been dropping leaflets out of a small aircraft which the Cubans shot down. So the US was escorting all aircraft in the area to make sure nothing else was going on.

Sure got my attention

Gary
 
Cuba

What I have read is that only "humanitarian flights"(private aircraft) will be allowed to operate to/from or within Cuba.
My understanding is that Fidel destroyed all the GA aircraft and plowed up most if not all of the private airports.
Before Fidel there was a lot of private aircraft activity between the US and Cuba.
 
It's all propaganda Stan which kept us out of a paradise for half a century. :D

EXACTLY! As the Washington Post noted:

"Most Americans have been barred by their own government from visiting Cuba for decades. For the rest of the world, it?s just another Caribbean vacation destination."

I have friends from Central America that fly their GA airplanes to Cuba quite regularly. Cuban citizens don't have private airplanes but GA is alive there. IIRC they told me class "A" airspace over Cuba is surface to unlimited. No VFR permitted.

:cool:
 
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Cuba

Google Earth Cuba sometime. I found less than a dozen operational airports on the whole island. I did find some old abandoned fields with a few junk MIGs left to rot though.
 
Delta Airlines

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Delta Airlines involuntarily donated several aircraft to the Cuban govt when everything was seized. If they were still around, they would make a good museum piece but I don't know if they would fit in the current museum with the DC -3.
 
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About a year ago as part of a Baja Bush Pilot cen-am trip we spent a few days in Cuba. We left our planes in the Cayman islands as the US won't allow N- registered planes in Cuba. Some of our fellow travelers from Canada did fly their planes there. We went under what they called a "Person to Person" program (permit).

We met with the Cuba equivalent of the FAA for a discussion of their GA operations. The folks we met with were responsible for issuing overflight permits and any GA flight permits within the country. There are non US based companies doing some business there that fall under GA. They suggested the minimum time frame for approval for a in country flight, after a request was made, was six hours. From our talks they clearly think of GA very differently than we have become use to here.

The people we met were very friendly and to a person very pro US. That isn't to suggest they aren't proud of Cuba, but quite aware of the flaws of their system.

I look forward to being able to make Cuba part of our yearly Bahama, Turks, Caribbean trips.

Dale
 
Cuba

Google Earth Cuba sometime. I found less than a dozen operational airports on the whole island. I did find some old abandoned fields with a few junk MIGs left to rot though.

I did a quick search on skyvector.com. Shows 30 airports in Cuba, two or three are military, the rest show open to the public. All but a few range from neglected to abandoned in appearance on sat views. Many appear to be old military airports. I counted just three single engine airplanes parked outside in all of Cuba. Difficult to tell what they are but may be Russian biplanes.
 
"All but a few range from neglected to abandoned in appearance on sat views."

There's several them actively used by the tourism industry, I've been to 2 myself, and know of at least 2 or 3 other ones that are actively used.

Cuba has an active Mig-29 squadron I believe, not sure where they're based though ... Last time I flew into Holguin, that airport was shared with military installations ... heard a few helicopters flying around but that was it ... there were some older migs on the ramp, though they didn't look like they moved too often ...

So there are people that fly there ... does that mean they have 100LL, or you just make sure you fill your tanks to the brim and plan the return trip accordingly?
 
Cuba

News today on Avweb is that US private aircraft flights to Cuba must be approved by the Commerce Dept and that is not likely to happen any time soon.
 
My neighbor flew his Piper Aztec there several times to work humanitarian donations with a church in Cuba. It wasn't that hard as long as there is a contact in Cuba and any items he took were for those missions. He typically went through the Bahamas, then into Cuba...perhaps that made it easier. That was about 8-10 years ago. I would pretty much consider that as a "private flight", but I don't recall how his permit was worded...The local people he became friends with there sent him home with a wish list of hardware and parts for 57 Chevy's! Unfortunately, we couldn't send any of that there legally.
 
Cuber

This is from today's AvWeb:

Those dreaming of flying to Cuba in their own aircraft will have to wait for now. Even though the U.S. has liberalized travel restrictions to the island nation and some airlines are gearing up for scheduled service, the virtual ban on flying a private aircraft from the U.S. to Cuba remains in effect. "The rules have not changed for flying your own plane to Cuba," said Jim Parker, a retired U.S. diplomat and pilot who runs Caribbean Flying Adventures. "An export license is still required and these are only issued for 'humanitarian' reasons or if the flight is deemed to be in the 'foreign policy interests of the U.S.'" He also noted that pilot groups who are working with the FAA to allow private aircraft access to Cuba are barking up the wrong tree. It's the Commerce Department that would issue the permits and they have been notoriously stingy with them.

Parker said his company already has a five-day Cuban adventure for private aircraft organized and ready to sell but he's not holding his breath. He said the policy changes will likely be "probably further out in time than we would like as private pilots." The current rules also apply to Canadian aircraft owners. Although Canadians are free to travel to Cuba for tourism or business from their own country, they can't fly their own aircraft through the U.S. to reach Cuba if their aircraft contains more than 10 percent U.S. parts, according to Parker.
 
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