re: $200 customs ramp fee
I sent a note to Atlantic, and their regional manager, Joe Fazio, got back to me within the hour. They will refund the $200 customs handling fee from my last visit, and are working to come up with an arrangement more suitable for small, single-engine aircraft (they don't see very many of them, unfortunately). I recommend that anyone planning to clear customs at TEB call first to confirm the fee structure, but hopefully, this problem will soon disappear. In the meantime, I'll just plan an extra customs stop at Massena or Watertown on my way down.
I do recommend Atlantic @ TEB: aside from this one issue, they've provided excellent service to me and my family over the years on our visits to NYC, and even though their gas is expensive, it doesn't add up to all that much of a difference for, say, 22 gallons in a small plane. As for TEB itself, as long as you can depart VFR, tower will almost always let a small plane cut in ahead of the lineup -- yesterday morning, I barely had time to put on my brakes at the hold-short line before I was cleared for takeoff ahead of several bizjets. An IFR departure will be another story, but that's true of any NYC-area airport, because the clearance has to come from NY Approach (I once spent 25 minutes idling at Republic waiting for my IFR release).
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