Well... looks like it's going to be a lot longer than I thought before I get my
plane back so I may as well tell you my cautionary tale about my latest Mexico
experience. This will be a longer post than I prefer, but I feel like details
are helpful.
As a prelude, I have flown to Mexico may times over the past 25 years, for
vacations as well as volunteer conservation flights for Lighthawk, hurricane
relief supply missions and have even delivered a Mexican Gray wolf as a gift
from the United States government to the Mexican government. In all of my
experiences I have enjoyed the people and have found the officials to be
patient and reasonable if I made any mistakes with my procedure or paperwork.
Not any longer. We decided about 6 weeks ago to get out of the snow and head
South for a few days on the beach so we elected to get a condo on the beach in
San Carlos. I got my customs sticker and updated my "Mexico file" with copies
of my current medical, insurance and so forth. However, I never thought to
check my registration... don't they remind you when it's due for renewal? Big
mistake.
When I got there and checked in with the Comandancia's office, the guy looked
at my registration and pointed out that it had expired 7 days previously. I
nearly fainted.
Of course, I begged forgiveness (Soy gringo estupido!) and offered to get it
renewed immediately. Also offered to get back in the plane and fly back to
Arizona that moment. Also went into meet with the Comandancia himself and
offered to pay him whatever fine he need to charge me. Nope... not happening.
He explained that I had flown into Mexico illegally and he was going to send a
report to the Director General Adjunto in Mexico City. He explained that he
would wait for the Director to send back documents that would set my penalty
and that it could take 2 or 3 weeks. He also said that I could not have my
airplane back.
With nothing else to do, we went to the condo and started making phone calls.
Jack McCormick at Baja Bush Pilots said typically when something like this
happens in Guaymas, the Comandancia will give you a lecture and tell you to
enjoy your vacation but don't do it again. He said it was up to the Comandancia
whether he notified Mexico City or not. But since he had done so, the horse was
out of the barn,
I spend about an hour on hold waiting to speak with the FAA registration office
in OKC and finally reached a very helpful woman who told me that once my
registration had expired there was no way to get a renewal expedited, but she
suggested I engage one of the title services located there in OKC and get their
help in walking the application through. The first one that picked up the phone
was Denise Sharp at Powell Aircraft Title. She said the FAA was currently
processing applications from Feb 1 and it would take a while but she would be
happy to process mine. Imagine my shock when she emailed me later the same day
with my flywire 30 day registration! And again the next day with my permanent
(3 year) registration! If you EVER need help with your registration, call
Denise... she is amazing!
So I took the new registration to the Comandancia and pleaded for mercy. Told
him I'd be happy to put on deposit the maximum amount my fine might be if he'd
let me have the plane. Nothing doing... "we wait for Mexico City".
To cut to the chase, we decided it didn't make sense to hang around. Jack
McCormick put out a request for a ride home and the wonderful guy I already
posted about came and got us. At this point we have now enlisted the help of:
1. AOPA's International director
2. FAA Western Hemisphere director
3. CST Fight Services
3. Aviation attorney in Mexico City, who is preparing an injunction against the
government for illegally impounding our aircraft. (Interestingly, there is
nothing in their documents that allow them to do this!)
4. Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly offices
So... here we are. After being a proponent of flying to Mexico all these years,
I'm done. In my opinion, things have changed drastically and you should be very
cautious if you decide to do it.
Sorry for the too long post!
