DonMcMullen
Active Member
Pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/Crazyforflying.
1/19/08 Saturday
We decided to start heading back yesterday. Bruce and Tobey headed for Ceiba Airport on the mainland of Honduras to gas up. We decided to head for Tapachula, Mexico and overfly Guatemala and Belize because we had plenty of gas. Checking out of Roatan was fairly painless except for the $105.00 fee for radio communications (flight following) across the country. It appears that every time we check out of an airport the procedure is new to them and they have to figure out how to do it. Not too many private airplanes fly in perhaps.
It was only about a 2-hour flight from Roatan Island to Tapachula, Mexico (Very good tail wind 170 knots with the power pulled back). The people at Tapachula were real friendly and wanted to talk and shake hands a lot. I met 2 pilots there (commercial) that owned a pa18 Piper super cub it was fun talking to them. After a nice lunch of chicken, tortillas, beans & rice Joan filled out our tourist visa while Don completed a VFR flight plan for Mazatlan, Mexico about a 6-hour flight. After about 2 hours in the air Don could see that it was going to be dark soon. We had not started flying until 11:40 am due to all the paperwork to leave Honduras. We want to go to all new spots on the return home and the flight following OK'd the change to land at Oaxaca Mex. The taxi van took us into the historic district to a former monastery called Casa de Los Frailes. It is lovely with lots of ambience. The hotel clerk recommended a place with Oaxacan food so we walked a half block from the hotel and had tamales and squash blossom soup with guacamole and chips at Las Olas, eatery and art gallery. Tres Chic. This morning we slept in til 7 am, ate toast and apple, with caf? ? no tea at all here. We walked down past the main square, through a gorgeous cathedral with many side altars, and on to one huge marketplace. Got many fascinating photos and bought a few tee shirts. It's almost 2 pm and we're going out to eat lunch (this hotel has internet in every room - Don's ecstatic).
1/21/08-Monday
Yesterday we departed Oaxaca at about 10:50am after filing our flight plan and the other paper work. The people there were pleasant and helpful with the paper work. When I filed for a 6 hour, 1024-mile flight to Guaymas, the flight-planning lady really put me through the questions on how my little airplane could fly that far. I convinced her that I had an 8-hour fuel capacity and she let us go. It happened that we hit a little head wind and it took us 7 hours. We landed at 10 to 5pm (we gained an hour with the time change, luckily). The airport personnel said they were waiting for us to land so they could go home. We paid the $4.00 landing fee and took a taxi to a hotel where we ate dinner and collapsed. We will finish checking in and out today and go to Calexico to clear customs and head home. I called Calexico Customs on Skype a computer telephone service and told them I was coming at 12:00n. I updated the arrival time through San Diego radio and we were all set. This morning we took a much-needed walk along San Carlos Bay After being cramped up for 7 hrs. Straight in our own "Rainbow" (new name for airplane)we needed it. Ay Chihuahua, it will be wonderful to drink water out of the tap again and see our Gatos....Last night Joan dreamed of bringing home a friend's cat to visit! We laughed thinking about getting Mexican food for dinner on the drive home from the Oxnard airport.
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1/21/08 Monday
The final leg of our trip home went well. From Guaymas, we called Calexico Customs and stated our arrival for 12 noon. Contacted Flight service and filed a flight plan. After clearing all the paper work with Guaymas, and paying $23. Each again for the Mexican visa,(and then surrendering them) Gas service fueled the airplane and we took off. We flew along the beautiful East coast of the Sea of Cortez past Punto Penasco along the Colorado River and on to Calexico. We changed our arrival time to 1:00 enroute and we were there by minutes of 1:00. I had to contact San Diego flight service to get a squawk code in order to cross the border without any hassles. We landed and parked in front of the customs office. We sat in our airplane waiting for the Customs inspector to come out. Soon a large man appeared at the door of the building and waved for us to come in. We went in and gave him the declaration form we'd already filled out, and our passports, and paid the $27. for a 2008 sticker to fly in and out of the U.S. We talked for a few minutes and he let us go without checking our luggage or anything. What an easy entry - guess we don't look like drug smugglers. We then had - what else on the border - a burrito lunch, at Rosa's, next door to Customs.
It was overcast at LAX (flying at 10500)so Don asked for an approach into Oxnard. He switched to IFR, descended through the overcast over LAX and came out about 6000 feet. He says he should have canceled then but wanted the practice. Mugu approach vectored us all over the place and then took us in too close to the final approach fix. He had to hand fly the airplane in on the ILS instead of the GPS approach. Don's glad it was VFR under the overcast. As usual we said, "This is the most beautiful place we've seen on all our journeys - let's stay here!" The ocean and mountains were deep blue against the sun shining low in the sky decorated with wispy, silver gray and white clouds. The air was crisp and clear
It is good to be home; we had a good time and we will go back. We appreciate how nice it is to fly around our country without all the airport fees for everything. Although the fuel is high here, there is no landing, wing, parking, entry permit, or visas. We are looking forward to sorting through the hundreds of photos we took. Until the next time
Hasta la vista, Don & Joan
http://picasaweb.google.com/Crazyforflying.
1/19/08 Saturday
We decided to start heading back yesterday. Bruce and Tobey headed for Ceiba Airport on the mainland of Honduras to gas up. We decided to head for Tapachula, Mexico and overfly Guatemala and Belize because we had plenty of gas. Checking out of Roatan was fairly painless except for the $105.00 fee for radio communications (flight following) across the country. It appears that every time we check out of an airport the procedure is new to them and they have to figure out how to do it. Not too many private airplanes fly in perhaps.
It was only about a 2-hour flight from Roatan Island to Tapachula, Mexico (Very good tail wind 170 knots with the power pulled back). The people at Tapachula were real friendly and wanted to talk and shake hands a lot. I met 2 pilots there (commercial) that owned a pa18 Piper super cub it was fun talking to them. After a nice lunch of chicken, tortillas, beans & rice Joan filled out our tourist visa while Don completed a VFR flight plan for Mazatlan, Mexico about a 6-hour flight. After about 2 hours in the air Don could see that it was going to be dark soon. We had not started flying until 11:40 am due to all the paperwork to leave Honduras. We want to go to all new spots on the return home and the flight following OK'd the change to land at Oaxaca Mex. The taxi van took us into the historic district to a former monastery called Casa de Los Frailes. It is lovely with lots of ambience. The hotel clerk recommended a place with Oaxacan food so we walked a half block from the hotel and had tamales and squash blossom soup with guacamole and chips at Las Olas, eatery and art gallery. Tres Chic. This morning we slept in til 7 am, ate toast and apple, with caf? ? no tea at all here. We walked down past the main square, through a gorgeous cathedral with many side altars, and on to one huge marketplace. Got many fascinating photos and bought a few tee shirts. It's almost 2 pm and we're going out to eat lunch (this hotel has internet in every room - Don's ecstatic).
1/21/08-Monday
Yesterday we departed Oaxaca at about 10:50am after filing our flight plan and the other paper work. The people there were pleasant and helpful with the paper work. When I filed for a 6 hour, 1024-mile flight to Guaymas, the flight-planning lady really put me through the questions on how my little airplane could fly that far. I convinced her that I had an 8-hour fuel capacity and she let us go. It happened that we hit a little head wind and it took us 7 hours. We landed at 10 to 5pm (we gained an hour with the time change, luckily). The airport personnel said they were waiting for us to land so they could go home. We paid the $4.00 landing fee and took a taxi to a hotel where we ate dinner and collapsed. We will finish checking in and out today and go to Calexico to clear customs and head home. I called Calexico Customs on Skype a computer telephone service and told them I was coming at 12:00n. I updated the arrival time through San Diego radio and we were all set. This morning we took a much-needed walk along San Carlos Bay After being cramped up for 7 hrs. Straight in our own "Rainbow" (new name for airplane)we needed it. Ay Chihuahua, it will be wonderful to drink water out of the tap again and see our Gatos....Last night Joan dreamed of bringing home a friend's cat to visit! We laughed thinking about getting Mexican food for dinner on the drive home from the Oxnard airport.
:
1/21/08 Monday
The final leg of our trip home went well. From Guaymas, we called Calexico Customs and stated our arrival for 12 noon. Contacted Flight service and filed a flight plan. After clearing all the paper work with Guaymas, and paying $23. Each again for the Mexican visa,(and then surrendering them) Gas service fueled the airplane and we took off. We flew along the beautiful East coast of the Sea of Cortez past Punto Penasco along the Colorado River and on to Calexico. We changed our arrival time to 1:00 enroute and we were there by minutes of 1:00. I had to contact San Diego flight service to get a squawk code in order to cross the border without any hassles. We landed and parked in front of the customs office. We sat in our airplane waiting for the Customs inspector to come out. Soon a large man appeared at the door of the building and waved for us to come in. We went in and gave him the declaration form we'd already filled out, and our passports, and paid the $27. for a 2008 sticker to fly in and out of the U.S. We talked for a few minutes and he let us go without checking our luggage or anything. What an easy entry - guess we don't look like drug smugglers. We then had - what else on the border - a burrito lunch, at Rosa's, next door to Customs.
It was overcast at LAX (flying at 10500)so Don asked for an approach into Oxnard. He switched to IFR, descended through the overcast over LAX and came out about 6000 feet. He says he should have canceled then but wanted the practice. Mugu approach vectored us all over the place and then took us in too close to the final approach fix. He had to hand fly the airplane in on the ILS instead of the GPS approach. Don's glad it was VFR under the overcast. As usual we said, "This is the most beautiful place we've seen on all our journeys - let's stay here!" The ocean and mountains were deep blue against the sun shining low in the sky decorated with wispy, silver gray and white clouds. The air was crisp and clear
It is good to be home; we had a good time and we will go back. We appreciate how nice it is to fly around our country without all the airport fees for everything. Although the fuel is high here, there is no landing, wing, parking, entry permit, or visas. We are looking forward to sorting through the hundreds of photos we took. Until the next time
Hasta la vista, Don & Joan
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