Based on recent penalty actions by CBP, I would like to share how a number of pilots have become subject to penalty actions and secondly if you do become subject to one, how to handle it.

Many of the recent penalty actions are falling into the following categories:
Not obtaining Permission To Land: When returning to the USA, once you have submitted APIS and received the receipt email from DHS, you need to contact CBP at the port of entry and obtain permission to land. This is spelled out in the text of the receipt email from CBP. I always urge pilots to carefully read the receipt email to make sure the airports, dates and numbers of crew and passengers match what you think you transmitted. Yes, pilots are being penalized for failing to do this.

Missing Manifest: Some pilots are just failing to submit APIS. CBP becomes aware through a variety of different methods so this is not a matter to take lightly.

Missing people: The people who were submitted on the manifest are missing and people not on the manifest are on board.

Arriving or departing outside the +/- 60-minute tolerance as specified on Airport Fact Sheets or on the Departure receipt email from DHS. In the past pilots did not pay a lot of attention to complying with the times they submitted on departure manifests. CBP has their own ways of detecting non-compliance including the fact that they do randomly conduct departure inspections. If you depart from the US outside of that tolerance, you can be subject to penalty action.

What should you do if you become subject to penalty action?
Don’t ignore it: If you get a notification from CBP that a penalty action has been initiated, address it quickly. Penalties can be initiated via a number of different channels within CBP, but the notification will come from CBP General Aviation Headquarters.

Own your mistake: By notifying you of a pending penalty action, CBP wants to give you the opportunity to give your side of the story. Explain what you did and why you did it. If you made a mistake, identify what caused the mistake to occur. As PIC you are solely responsible and CBP will not look favorably on attempts to shirk that responsibility by blaming others or by omitting facts. Be honest, tell them what happened, how it happened and why it happened.

Address your mistake: If you did something wrong, tell CBP what you are doing to ensure that this mistake does not happen again. Outline an action plan on how you are changing your procedures to ensure that you achieve compliance going forward.

Doing this does not guarantee that CBP will withhold the penalty action, CBP handles penalty actions on a case-by-case basis. However, a very significant percentage of penalty actions are resolved during the initial interaction with CBP headquarters. CBP’s expectation of pilots is that we demonstrate that we are trying to act reasonably and responsibly. CBP is looking for compliance, not finding blame.

We don’t just do a few international trips a year, we do this all day, every day of the year. If sharing this knowledge from our industry collaboration and ongoing operations keeps just one pilot from getting into trouble, then it is worth it.

Last edited by CST Flight Services; 09/27/23 11:21 AM.
CST Flight Services (Formerly: Caribbean Sky Tours)
www.cstflightservices.com