Thread: Baja whale petting

Baja, here we come! 'Can't wait for this wednesday morning... we're heading down the Baja for 5 days in the CT. Looks like perfect flying weather for 500 miles of coastline flying each way. We start the day off by flying through a very hot restricted area, at 500' AGL, with Vipers overhead dropping ordinance (R2305-the Goldwater Gunnery Range). Really!

About 60 aircraft will be meeting up about 2/3 of the way down the Baja, in Mulege, where we'll stage flights across to the Pacific coast for "whale petting".

The trip is organized by the Baja Bush pilots. Here's a link to the site.

A report, for sure, next week...

tim

Whew! Made it back... Awesome trip... many pics, but after a flight today of 760+ miles of pesky winds and a few hours of nasty bumpy - we're beat. CT performed great and had countless compliments. Baja old-timers said they've never seen a light sport down that way.

here's a link to the SPOT track log... it should keep the flight for a few days...

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... TyL2kyct1m

Tim

Really nice Tim. Love to see your pictures.

how do you go about getting permission to fly your slsa in mexico? is a medical required? if so what kind?

re: LSA in Mexico... I have full Private Ticket, but I understand Light sport can fly with a separate medical. Some hard-core Baja flyers told me they've never been asked to show a medical.

They are trying to work something out, so that Mex/USA will have a reciprocal agreement to allow LSA pilots to fly.

tim

tim,

the limitation is on the plane in this case, you ppl even with a medical isn't enough to make your usa regestered slsa international, hence the need for permission.

did you have to get permission at all?

No - 'was told that the limitation was with medical, not the plane. I've talked with others who've flow Light Sports down without problems/questions. Concerning the sport pilot certificate, the AOPA cites this limitation: "Outside the United States, unless you have prior authorization from the country in which you seek to operate. A sport pilot certificate carries the limitation "Holder does not meet ICAO requirements."

I went through weeks of trying to find out what "prior authorization" meant, or where you could get it. I talked with and emailed the Mexican consulate - Clueless, they just referred me back to their useless website.

Baja Bush Pilots, perhaps the best recognized authorities on flying South, also felt the limitation was on the license, not the plane. How do homebuilts/experimentals deal with flying south? You see lots of them in mexico.

tim

mexican enforcement notwithstanding slsa and experimental are not icao and [should] need permission.

experimentals are not new and have track record.

Did anyone ask for any thing when you went through customs? When we arrived at Eluethra Island in the Bahamas customs never asked for one peice of paper. I jokingly asked him how he even knew if I was a pilot, he said I saw you land that plane and thats good enough for us. Passport was it. I hear thats the norm in the Bahamas and Caribbean.

Mexican govt is pretty consistent and require a good deal of paperwork. Lots of rubber stamps and checking. Entry/Multi-entry form for entry into country for the plane, something called the general declaration, Visas for the people, copies of license and mexican insurance. Letter showing ownership and permission to fly the plane. Landing fees and wing tax. Passports for sure. Rubber stamp and point you to another person/office. They take it pretty seriously... but don't get me wrong... your name may be misspelled, wrong aircraft name/numbers, or empty answers. They make you file a flight plan for where you are coming FROM, and another for where you are going.

They are generally polite and professional... like anyplace, there can be exceptions. US customs is the same. Every so often you find someone who takes themselves a bit too seriously, or they've had a bad day. The process usually takes 20-40 minutes.

The Baja Bush Pilots (bajabush.com) do a great job of teaching people the ropes and organizing wonderful trips around Mexico and Central America.

Soon, the US portion of the trips will get a good deal more complicated. The new procedures for Back/Forth travel to Mexico/Canada/Bahamas and Caribbean, mandatory in May, change things significantly. Essentially, we need to ask permission to leave or enter the US, and have all sorts of information about pilot and passengers checked before that permission is granted. It's all done via the Internet, on the eApis system. But that's a topic for another whole thread.
tim