Pilots traveling on international flights should take their pilot and aircraft logbooks with them. If you are ramp checked or you have any incident that gains you the attention of local civil aviation officials, most foreign countries REQUIRE that you have the applicable logbooks with you. When traveling to a foreign country, we are required to abide with any applicable regulatons in force in that country.

As an example, there was an aircraft that flew to Mexico and had a total radio communication failure crossing the Gulf of Mexico and flew into the Cancun Terminal Control Area. As the aircraft was not idientified and caused a significant disruption to the flow of commercial and general aviation into the airport, the pilot gained the attention of local officials. On the day of departure back to the USA, the pilot was asked to demonstrate the logbook entry indicating that the necessary repairs had been made to the aircraft so that it would be in compliance and able to communicate with ATC without creating another emergency situation. The pilot did not have his logbooks with him and this delayed his departure to the USA until copies of the aircraft logbooks could be sent and the appropriate entries made.

Rick Gardner
Caribbean Sky Tours