Narrative:

After traveling internationally and requiring customs clearance upon return to the us; I felt the need to fly a GPS approach; with lowest available minima and continued below those published minima in an attempt to complete the approach. The major factor in my decision was the perceived need to clear customs as pre arranged at this airport and my perception of the consequences for not doing so. My decision to 'take a look' and go below published minimums could have been a fatal. Fortunately we successfully completed a missed approach and diverted to another airport where we were cleared in with no complications. Adding to the unsafe condition--which I caused--an additional consequence was that while I continued to fly the plane; it then fell to my co-pilot to concentrate on figuring out how to contact customs in order to obtain approval; essentially causing me to fly single pilot in a congested terminal area in IMC conditions. ATC played a vital role in obtaining approval from customs for us to clear at our diversion airport. They should be commended for their assistance. By so doing they allowed my copilot to return his attention to flying the plane.conversely; however; the controller also informed me that customs would not agree to allow us to land at a much closer international airport and required us to continue to the much smaller airport at a further distance. In this case no accident or incident occurred and everything worked out fine; however I think something should be done to give pilots the option of diverting to an acceptable airport without concern for repercussions from the customs and immigrations officials. While I do not condone going below published minima I understand my decision to do so in order to not create complications with customs and border protection.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Gulfstream flight crew felt compelled to descend below minima at their destination due to their belief they must clear customs as pre-arranged. After going around they diverted to another airport where they cleared without delay.

Narrative: After traveling internationally and requiring Customs clearance upon return to the US; I felt the need to fly a GPS approach; with lowest available minima and continued below those published minima in an attempt to complete the approach. The major factor in my decision was the perceived need to clear Customs as pre arranged at this airport and my perception of the consequences for not doing so. My decision to 'take a look' and go below published minimums could have been a fatal. Fortunately we successfully completed a missed approach and diverted to another airport where we were cleared in with no complications. Adding to the unsafe condition--which I caused--an additional consequence was that while I continued to fly the plane; it then fell to my co-pilot to concentrate on figuring out how to contact Customs in order to obtain approval; essentially causing me to fly single pilot in a congested terminal area in IMC conditions. ATC played a vital role in obtaining approval from Customs for us to clear at our diversion airport. They should be commended for their assistance. By so doing they allowed my copilot to return his attention to flying the plane.Conversely; however; the Controller also informed me that customs would NOT agree to allow us to land at a much closer international airport and required us to continue to the much smaller airport at a further distance. In this case no accident or incident occurred and everything worked out fine; however I think something should be done to give pilots the option of diverting to an acceptable airport without concern for repercussions from the Customs and Immigrations Officials. While I do NOT condone going below published minima I understand my decision to do so in order to not create complications with Customs and Border protection.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.