I'm spending the bulk of the year in Mexico. I know at least a couple of you have done some flying down here. Any ideas on places to fly? Ideally with camping possibilities? We are in the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, so information about Guanajuato, México, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Colima and Aguascalientes would be particularly welcome.

Thanks in advance!

have fun,,, hope you and your plane make it back from that third world shithole.......

iceman wrote:have fun,,, hope you and your plane make it back from that third world shithole.......

Don't worry! Iceman just hates Mexico!

Third world shit hole! I guess he really meant Miami. I have had some of the best times flying about Mexico. I got stranded for a weekend in Tampico. The controllers took me out after they got off shift. Ended up with a bunch of their buddies from the college and spent the weekend going from cool clubs to homes and beaches. I couldn't pay for a thing. Veracruz was a very friendly airport, but the ones in Yucatan are the best. Chetumal is very pleasant, try Paco's Tacos down on the seawall.

Mexico has its issues, I got rather tired of having to have five different offices sign every flight plan in or out. Bargaining for the fuel price & exchange rate for the fuel, not having change and so on is irritating, especially if your in a hurry.

iceman wrote:have fun,,, hope you and your plane make it back from that third world shithole.......

X10 Flew clients down to Manzillo in the King Air a year ago and spent 4 days........what a shithole!

RW2, hope you have a great time and please post some of your adventures!!! Spent much of my misdirected youth wandering the Pacific beach towns of Mexico and Baja Sur in search of waves and adventure. I lived to work so I could travel between the ages of 17-25 and very few places have I experienced the hospitality I received in rural Mexico, think small towns and villages. Any tourist trap or big city's a potential shithole in my book, you gotta find where the real people and culture is at. All folks are prone to their particular prejudice/s and its easy to show up one place and label an entire country or state per a one time bad experience, but it's hard to actually keep your eyes unclouded. I live on the TX/MEX border and the only civilization I can see on the horizon out here is Mexico 17 miles away (Ojinaga), so I've received a fat dose of where all this bad reputation comes from. All politics aside, you are absolutely gonna be in a beautiful region of the world.

I'm sure you've already checked but Baja Bush Pilots is a pretty decent resource for flying in Mexico. Wish I had more info. for you, I've been dreamin bout gettin a beater 140 or 170 just to explore the coasts and mountains down there. Anyways, just wanted you to know there are people out here that would love to hear about your experience and adventures, good luck!!!

Well, a topic near and dear to my heart. Don't listen to these people who either haven't been to Mexico or have just read the sensational news reports of violence. I have not flown into mainland Mexico in years so I am no help there. Baja is a different story. I have been flying into Baja since the early 80s in a variety of planes. Except for a T-210 being stolen(insure for replacement value), no issues, period.

I used to camp out of my planes in out of the way places but that is pretty much over with. To appease the DEA Mexico has closed virtually all remote strips. If the strip doesn't have paperwork, it is ditched, fenced, etc. So you are stuck landing in populated areas and then either camp there of get a ride someplace more remote. Depending on what kind of plane you have, disabling the plane is still suggested even though I haven't heard of any planes getting stolen for sometime now. Locks don't work!

Now we can sit back and listen to the howls of dooms day hand wringing guys that won't leave Texas without an Uzi and a German Shepherd. Have fun with an open mind and if you survive (just kidding) a report and pics.

Float Flyer, great to hear some positive things from someone with experience flying in Mexico. I have certainly had some of the best time's of my life down there, and as I said some of the nicest most welcoming people anywhere. Although I am from Texas I didnt take an uzi or a german shephard, believe it or not, but we did take our litlle red heeler for a summer camping on the beach down in Baja

Float Flyer wrote:
" Now we can sit back and listen to the howls of dooms day hand wringing guys that won't leave Texas without an Uzi and a German Shepherd"

Ouch just when you got done with what sounded like a open minded report on a place that is also near and dear to my heart you gotta give a rip on us Texans! You are more than welcome to stop in to our ranch in west Texas (5TE1 on the sectional, check out my website), maybe I can change your mind with a dose of my family's southern hospitality. Where we live down here the terrain is very similar to Baja, we got the mountains and desert, just not the ocean.

Skalywag: Ok, I should not paint ALL Texans with the same brush. Sounds like you have a brain, eyes, ears, and use them often as most reasonable people do. Would love to visit, given the opportunity, same for you down here or in the PNW.

Thanks for the input.

My experience here has been very much like what dogpilot, skalywag and floatflyer report. Beautiful country with beautiful people. We love it here.

I had heard rumors about many of the back country strips being shut down also. I'm sad to see FloatFlyer confirm that.

I agree 100% with dogpilot on the hassles of flying down here. I think every pilot that complains about the FAA should come do a flight here. It's not that it's a show-stopper, but you do have to build an additional 15 -20 minutes into every plan for dealing with paperwork. My favorite idiosyncrasy is related to the fact that the airport I'm based out of down here has no flight office. Therefore I cannot file a flight plan before I take off. *However* if you think that means I have nothing to close when I land, well, that's were you would be mistaken. Upon landing I still have to do the paperwork to close the non-existent flight plan. Very strange! On the whole though, if one keeps in mind the old adage "time to spare? go by air!" and lets minor quirks like that roll off ones back then it's a wonderful experience.

I'm in the middle of the country so crime is less of a concern. My state (Guanajuato) has a crime rate similar to Wisconsin or Vermont. Which is to say, it has much lower crime than my hometown of Chicago.

That said, yes, I'm fully insured just as I would be even if the plane was never leaving the states.

I'm kind of mixed about comments like that from iceman. On the one side, I think it would be great if he visited the parts of the country I know and love. I'm certain it would change his opinion. On the other hand, I like living in Mexico because I love Mexican culture. If all the gringos started being more realistic about their views of the country there would be a lot more of them here.

Hopefully Skalywag's offer of southern hospitality might apply to me also? I'll be back and forth to the states several times this year. Might be fun to stop by sometime.

For those that requested write-ups. The first two are already online.

http://leftbase.com/?p=1033
http://leftbase.com/?p=1046

I put a spot on the homepage http://leftbase.com in case you want to subscribe via email. Otherwise plug us into your RSS feed reader.

Hafast wrote:X10 Flew clients down to Manzillo in the King Air a year ago and spent 4 days........what a shithole!

Ha! I wasn't familiar and had to look it up. Looks gorgeous!

For the benefit of others: http://is.gd/4W80j5

rw2 wrote:

Hafast wrote:X10 Flew clients down to Manzillo in the King Air a year ago and spent 4 days........what a shithole!

Ha! I wasn't familiar and had to look it up. Looks gorgeous!

For the benefit of others: http://is.gd/4W80j5

So you're the one who bought that Maule.
Now all of the stories that I've heard make sense

I hope you got paid to fly a King Air to that shit hole. If you need a co-pilot, or a steward, for that matter, PM me.

RW2, great trip reports, thanks for sharing! And yes, feel free to stop by if you're planning on cruising through this part of TX.

RW2,

I have spent a little time in Mexico. I have often wished I had my Maule down there. I have been on a few deserted beaches that would be landable. I have been told off airport operations are not allowed in Mexico, but do not know. I do not imagine it would be an easy thing to explain to the federales, "No, I was not waiting for drugs sir."

I think a flight around the volcanoes near Colima City would be beautiful. Flying the Colima and Jalisco coasts would be nice.

I saw some general aviation traffic in Colima City one time and found this small airort on the south side of town. It is not the larger municipal airport. It can be seen on goggle maps. There were some hangers with ag planes, a couple of ultra lights and a 172. A man gives lessons in the 172. I have been meaning to take a lesson just to fly in Mexico. I talked to his brother who lives on the airfield.

I have seen ag planes flying down the beach low and in tight formation. I have been told that ag planes sometimes land at the farms they serve and land at various places other than offical air fields. I would try and talk to the ag pilots for off airport information.

Have fun in Mexico. One day I hope to spend more of my year there.

Chet

Hafast wrote:So you're the one who bought that Maule.
Now all of the stories that I've heard make sense

Uh-oh...

I sprained my brain yesterday. While driving through an industrial section of Mexico City, without a single English phrase nor American company logo in sight, Barry Manilow came on the radio. I think I may need to expand the I'M SAFE checklist to include such mind bending cultural collisions.

Hafast wrote:So you're the one who bought that Maule.
Now all of the stories that I've heard make sense

Heh. Just noticed you're based at KDVT. Yup, you saw my Maule around those parts for a while.

Here are the latest updates for those who asked:

Leaving Mexico and dealing with the immigration hassle: http://leftbase.com/?p=1117
Arriving in the US and breaking the plane: http://leftbase.com/?p=1158

Next week we're off to the Bahamas for a little bit and then back to Mexico. Most of our snowbird friends will have left .mx when we get back so I'll have more time to do in country flying. Only managed about four flights in six weeks last trip. Need more seat time.