For many years, visiting Cuba was prohibited for U.S. Citizens. This was one place in the world that many people dreamed of visiting, so close in distance yet so difficult to reach. Under the Obama administration rules and regulations slowly relaxed allowing American citizens to visit Cuba under one of the 12 categories of the “General License.”
Air Journey has been running flying trips to Havana since early 2016, and today we will be in the shoes of an American pilot flying his plane to Cuba for the first time.
Air Journey’s flight briefing took place at Fort Lauderdale Airport. All pilots met with the Air Journey leader at the FBO to discuss what to expect during the flight to Havana. U.S. eAPIS, Cuban eAPIS, Cuba Landing permits, flight plans and Cuban visas had been filed and secured by the Air Journey office. The pilots received their IFR clearance like on a normal domestic flight. The route would take us along the Florida Keys to MTH (Marathon NDB) then FIS (Fish Hook NDB) and to CANOA.
Just before CANOA you can expect Miami Center to send you to Havana Control at FL220. CANOA is the border waypoint of Miami and Havana Airspace. This is where most of us are expecting something new on the radio. “N1234 Havana Control, buenos días. Descend and maintain FL110, ENTRY 2 Arrival, expect the ILS 06.” The only tricky part of the instructions was discussed during the briefing. The altimeter is in hPa (hectopascals) instead of inches of mercury (29.92in = 1013 hPa) and the transition altitude is 3,000 feet (not like in the US where it is 18,000 feet). So any altitude above 3,000 feet in Havana is a Flight Level, and you enter the local altimeter setting in hPa. Most round dial altimeters can display both pressures (left hPa or millibars and right inches) and the units in a Garmin units can be changed in the settings. After intercepting the green needle, we are on short final and Havana Tower is clearing us to land runway 6.
We have plenty of runway with 13,123 feet to land. Once vacated, we are assigned terminal 5 which is where general aviation flights are processed. You can always find interesting airplanes abandoned on the remote ramps left over from the Soviet area in communist countries. On the other side, the newer main terminal has all the U.S. carriers, such as American, Delta, Southwest, and Sprit. Our Terminal 5 is an old remote terminal. Ground handler, customs, immigration, a visa processor, and tour guide are waiting for us. A quick stop to visit each party, process the passports, and Air Journey paperwork, and we are on our way to enjoy our first lunch and Cuban mojitos! There’s nothing better to congratulate oneself for the first flight to Cuba.
For many years, many thought it would be impossible to get to Cuba, less so to fly our own planes as pilot in command and land in beautiful Havana. But here we are enjoying the scenery, the people, the mix of culture from the Spanish colonial era, to the Caribbean vibe, shuffled with Russian and communist culture. The day continued with a visit of the Harley Davidson repair shop showing how Harley’s amateurs had to find solutions to the blockage made by the U.S. Embargo to keep their bikes running. A lot of them have been transformed and use Russian truck and car parts, the only parts that were available for many years. It was eye opening and a great introduction on how people had to come up with ideas during hard times. Our hotel was the hotel Saratoga located in the center of Havana, facing the Capitol building. An incredible location where you can just watch the life happening.
Saratoga hotel paint in green in old havana © Cuba Absolutely, 2014
Amazing activities were waiting with a private visit of the Partagas Cuban factory, a ride on the Malecon Avenue along the ocean in an American classic car, rum and cigars at the Hotel National, and constant interaction with the Cuban people.
All we know about Cuba is what we hear in the news, which is mostly negative. Here we are, able to see for our own and enjoy our time there meeting people and discovering the Cuban culture. Our days continued with visits to art galleries, the museum of Cuban fine art, Hemingway museum, and much more.
All of a sudden, it’s the night before our return flight and all pilots are meeting for a pilot briefing. We go through every step in detail of our return plan from the time we leave the hotel until we are out of customs in the U.S. Air Journey puts the emphasis on using an airport in the U.S. that is familiar with Cuba flights and their restrictions to avoid any unnecessary questioning and lengthy processes. Each citizen is allowed to bring back $800 of souvenirs duty free. The $800 can include up to 1 liter of alcohol (usually rum coming from Cuba) and 100 cigars, plus some other souvenirs as long as it stays under $800. Anything above, you risk to be charged a duty from U.S. Customs.
The process at Havana airport was very fast. We arrived, went through customs and immigration to leave the country, paid our airport fees and got a copy of our flight plan filed by Air Journey. The departure took us around the southwest side of Havana before turning north toward MAXIM intersection, the border of Cuba and Miami Airspace for northbound flights. Passing MAXIM Havana transferred us to Miami Center, and there we were, back with an American controller, back home.
Customs were really fast. A few questions were asked, and we had our paperwork in order so we were in and out in a few minutes. What a great adventure and what a great feeling to be able to fly your own airplane in a country that is so close to us in distance, but so far back in time.
Things have changed recently with our new President. Visiting Cuba under the People to People General License is only allowed as a group, where a representative of the U.S. tour company needs to accompany the guest during the entire stay to make sure they follow the guidelines of the People to People regulation. Air Journey is running multiple journeys per year to Cuba. The next available dates are February 25-28, 2019 and March 18-21, 2019. Inquire via email at [email protected] or (561) 841-1551 for more information.
