The weather was scattered clouds at 3000' with winds out of the south at Tampico and Brownsville. I filed for a 1 hour 45 minute flight at 5500' direct to Brownsville. The Comandant wouldn't allow that altitude, saying that it had to be an even altitude so I picked 6500'. The direct route to Brownsville is 002° by my calculation, which would be odd, but the airway that goes to Matamoros, slightly to the west is 358°, which is even thousands plus 500'. It's just one of those places where the odd/even rule doesn't work so well.
We paid the airport use fee and got our flight plan stamped.
Another office wanted to see our Aircraft Entrance permit and Mexican liability insurance. We surrendered the Aircraft Entrance permit.
We visited Imigración to turn in our visas where we discovered that we had not paid the fees in Matamoros. More forms were filled out and we returned to Operaciones to pay the fees.
We visited the Aduana office to fill out a customs declaration.
I was sent to yet another office that I hadn't visited before for some stamping. Operaciones stopped by to do their stamping as well and gave me a small printed weather briefing, so I didn't have to return to that office again.
Then we went to the Comandant's office for final approval and to turn in their copies of the flight plan. Now we were free to go. Fortunately at Tampico, all of these offices are located right together and everyone is friendly and helpful. We like Tampico.
We returned to the airplane where we were greated again by the soldiers and gave them their information. Then I preflighted the plane and made the important call to U.S. Customs in Brownsville to announce our arrival. I used my AT&T cellphone, which has no special plan for international calling. I dialed 001 before dialing the Customs number (956) 542-8296. I gave the airplane tail number, the estimated time of arrival, my name and citizenship, passengers and their citizenship, and answered a couple of questions and that was it.
As we taxied to the ramp, the two competing FBOs (fixed base operator, sort of like a service station for airplanes) vied for our attention, trying to get us to park there, but we had to continue on to Customs. The Customs office is near the tower and flies a U.S. flag. We taxied up to the building and waited in the plane as is, uh, customary, for instructions to exit the plane. At first, no one appeared. I was just about to give up and make another phone call when the customs agent came to the door and motioned us out of the plane.
This is my first experience with a visit to Customs in a private plane. I had been warned that Customs officials have no sense of humor, so I was prepared to be all business. I was relieved to find that our Customs agent DID have a sense of humor and was very pleasant. Nonetheless, we let him make ALL the jokes.
We filled out forms and I had to purchase a sticker for the plane, which had to be done with a credit card. The sticker will be mailed to me and is good for a year, in case we cross the border again. In the meantime, one of the agents visited the plane with a sniffer device to detect radiation. We did not have to remove our bags for searching.
The Customs visit took 10 or 15 minutes and then we taxied to the FBO for fuel. Fuel is considerably cheaper in Brownsville than in nearby Harlingen.
