Как перелетать границы на самолете.

Airplanes are great for traveling. And if we cross country borders along the way, even the slowest small plane, like this one, is faster and more cost-effective than the fastest car. And if we fly on a big one, but we have to transfer in different countries, then sometimes such a small plane will be faster than even a scheduled plane. How do small planes (and large ones too) cross borders? How do we know that the border has already been crossed? This is often asked, in this issue we answer. Crossing the border by plane is usually fun and fast. Why? Let's figure it out together. To fly abroad, we need to arrive at an international airport convenient for us. In fact, there are several borders - there is passport control and a customs border, this can be at an airport in the very center of the country, and there is a physical border over which the plane flies. They are all important, but in their own way. Many people who have flown on scheduled flights to, say, Turkey, know this: we arrive at the airport, go through security, then walk past the “red and green corridor” signs with bored customs officers, straight to the border control desks – and there they may (and often don’t) slap an exit stamp in our passport. After which we find ourselves in the so-called “clean” zone of the airport with duty-free – this means that for the country we are flying from, we are ALREADY abroad, we have gone through the registration system as having left, and we can already buy goods tax-free. (In fact, due to airport tariffs, these goods are often more expensive, but how can many people fight their fear of flying if not with duty-free booze, tell me). The next time we will take out our passport only upon arrival at the airport of arrival. What country are we in when we are inside the plane? Many people think that on board we are in the country in which the plane is registered. Yes and no. Yes - if we have flown 12 miles from the shore and are flying over a sea or ocean, or over Antarctica, but not over the territory of any country. Then yes, we are subject to the laws of the country of registration of the aircraft. For example, if a 19-year-old flies from New York to Amsterdam on an American airline Delta, he will not be able to buy alcohol on board the plane: in the USA it is prohibited until the age of 21. But if the same young man flies on board a Dutch KLM plane, then beer and other alcoholic beverages will be available to him on board: in the Netherlands, alcohol is sold from the age of 18. But, once again, an important caveat - this only works outside the countries. If the plane flies over the territory of a country, the crew and passengers are subject to the rules of that country. It does not matter which airline, an 18-year-old will not be sold alcohol over the USA. As far as I remember, over many Arab countries, no one will be served alcohol at all, and they only start serving it after departure from such countries. Perhaps my viewers know more precisely and will be able to correct me in the comments. And, for example, a plane flying over Belarus can be landed, and then you can be landed too, if you wrote bad words against Lukashenko BEFORE the flight. Let's get back to crossing the border. In parallel with the passengers, the crew goes through security control, customs and border guards. There are few differences - usually this is a separate corridor, although often together with everyone else. The crew commander submits to customs and border guards a General Declaration, abbreviated as GenDec - a document containing the registration number and type of aircraft, departure and destination airports, a list of the crew and the number of passengers, as well as information about various infectious diseases on board and disinfestations. On large aircraft, a full list of passengers is submitted, with which the airport services, border guards and customs work. Then the crew, which arrives a little earlier, prepares the plane for takeoff. When ready, the plane takes off and goes to the actual border. And if there are border points for cars and pedestrians, then for planes there are border crossing points. They are marked on the map along the border with triangles like these, but these are virtual points, in fact - GPS coordinates, which have a five-letter name for convenience. We choose the most convenient border crossing points for us and write them down in the flight plan, which is automatically sent to the air traffic control services of all countries along the route via a program on the iPad. Therefore, everyone knows where exactly the plane will fly over the border. But still, while the cars below are standing in meaningless queues for hours, we fly over the border in a split second. Often, the only thing that changes is the language of communication of local pilots and the accent of the dispatcher, because we still communicate with everyone in English. About two minutes before the crossing, we ...