Flight to Puerto Escondido October 2014

Background and Preparation

My first flight to Puerto Escondido was in February 2009; we returned in February 2014. This will be my third flight to Puerto Escondido and my sixth flight into Mexico. We returned at this time of the year to be able to go on Gina's Day of the Dead tour.

Liability Insurance:   I obtained the required insurance policy from MacAfee and Edwards.

Manifests:   I filed manifests for the two border crossings online with eAPIS, Electronic Advance Passenger Information System. The US Department of Homeland Security requires that pilots of private aircraft transmit notices of arrival and/or departure and traveler manifest information to Customs and Border Protection electronically a minimum of 60 minutes prior to departure. I get a little confused with this process because when I travel to a foreign county, I consider my trip to the country as my arrival segment and when I leave it is the departure. However it is precisely the opposite in the mind of eAPIS.

Our Piper Arrow

Required Documents:

• Passports for everyone
• Insurance Policy
• Airplane Registration
• Airplane Airworthiness Certificate
• Pilot License
• Medical Certificate

As a backup, I photographed all of these with my IPAD.

Flight Plan

On previous flights we have used Tampico as the point of entry and the overnight stop before crossing the mountains in the morning. On the last trip to Tampico I tried to use my credit card to pay for fuel. The fuel people took my card and my wife's card all over the airport trying different credit card machines and claimed that it would not work. So I paid in cash. After returning home, the fuel bill came through on the credit card. I had to contest the charge and the airport countered, producing a receipt that appeared to have been signed by my wife. However she was not present and that was enough for me to win my case. But with that incident in the background, I decided to just avoid Tampico this time.

So this time the plan is to make Puebla the entry point and overnight stop. To do that, Brownsville will need to be the first stop, about a 2-hour flight. Then the flight to Puebla will be 3-1/2 hours and the morning flight to Puerto Escondido will be 2 hours. I can't fly high enough to file IFR all the way to Puebla because of the high terrain around Puebla, so I'll file a composite flight plan starting out IFR and transitioning to VFR over Tampico. Crossing the border on an IFR flight plan is easier because I don't have to notify anyone.

IPAD:   On the IPAD, I have Foreflight installed. This gives me Enroute Low Altitude charts for Mexico. I notice there is a large restricted area MR-102 just east of Puebla that I will have to circumnavigate.

Tom and Nancy, enroute selfie

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing Popocatepetl erupt several times

Now on to Brownsville.