RobertoTohme

My SE has the Stby alternator and had both vacuum pumps removed at the factory service center back in '09 when I refurbished it completely. It's the same setup as on the Acclaim now, and other than testing it every now and then to make sure it works, never had to resort to it. A must for an all electric plane.

And probably close behind the Citation on legs <350 NM....

That is true; once you get a multiple entry permit, its good only for entries FROM the country you arrived when you got it. I have my yearly multiple entry permit from the US, but when I go to Costa Rica and come back through Tapachula I have to pay for that one too. Don't get mislead; there are plenty of airports of entry, and the process is the same at all airports; you just run into not friendly officers at some of those airports; some of them are borderline @$$holes, some are pretty easy to deal with... Luck of the draw.

Chris, When you decide to do it and considering you're based at Austin, clear at MMAN (Del Norte-Monterrey); they're friendly as it can get and they work nothing but private flights. From there you can head anywhere you wish to spend time in Mexico without a hassle, just have your arrival paper flight plan closing handy as it's required for filing further flight plans within Mexico, and the reason to that is that the date on it starts the clock for the 6 months the plane is allowed to stay in mexico. It didn't use to be that way, but there's plenty of mexicans with N registered planes based in Mexico (I don't blame them, dealing with DGAC is a nightmare) but seldom flew outside of the country, so now they check the last entry date to verify it's within the 6 month entry permit. Also, flights within Mexico don't require flight plan closing in paper anymore, regardless of VFR or IFR; this is a fairly new ruling that started about 2 - 3 months ago. International arrivals still require the paper closing and the miryad of stamps of the different authorities; that's the one you carry with you at all times.

+1!

Let me share a fact about mexican eapis.. If you are a Part 91 operator, you're still not required to file it. The word of the law says "it must be filed on the official web portal of the INM"... and it happens that the portal doesn't exist, so legally, they can not pin you for that. I have personally checked this fact with a couple of friends in Mexico that happen to be Federal Judges, and FEMPPA (mexico's version of AOPA) has actively pressured the government and got an agreement that until they come up with the portal, the cockamamie system the government came up with of emailing an excel file with the data is treated as a "nice to have", but it's not enforceable. With the above said, it's up to you if you want to send the info via email or not and if you do to make you feel safer, just print the email and have it with you; I assure you nobody is going to ask for it since the agents at the airport don't get it; it goes to a central computer on some obscure building in Mexico City and nobody monitors it. Don't ask how I know but I DO know. Now, if you're Part 135 or 121, that's a whole other story; I'm also a Part 135 operator and the requirement imposed by the government is to file electronically thru Honeywell's ARINC portal, contracted by the government (without a bidding contest, by the way) where you as an operator have to sign up for, pay a stiff annual fee and 260 dollars per manifest, whether inbound or outbound. These are the facts... Whether you want to follow my advise or not is entirely up to you. When and if such portal becomes available in the future (I doubt it for Part 91), I'll be first to know and will post the information here accordingly, with links to the correct website. P.D. I fly in as Part 91 so I never file, and the charter fleet goes as Part 135 and we, or should I say our customer, gets stiffed with the $520 per round trip on top of the charter rate.

If you haven't done the flight already, don't complicate yourself; it's pretty easy: file the VFR ICAO plan in MMCU, and 20 miles out from Presidio call ABQ radio advising you're on a VFR plan inbound Presidio and you need a squack code; they'll issue one and just make your standard calls on unicom. Customs know you're coming because of eapis, and you won't be talking to anyone in mexican airspace after you leave Chihuahua boundary... As to the "horror story" published here, Where's the part that "the pilot should get all pertinent information related to the flight intended"? Yes, aviation authorities in Mexico are generally crappy and it's costly to land in mexico's airports, but if you do your due diligence there are no surprises, just the time consuming dealings with their red tape and fees payment. It's sad that some members here, out of plain ignorance, pass on the opportunity of a great vacation or business deal. I can safely assume that no one here (or other brand forums for that matter) has more international ops to mexico from the US than I do, since I average more than 50 ops per year for the last 9 years, plus a couple coming from central america that clear at Tapachula, Guess What? Never ever had a problem! So if we do the math, that's over 470 ops without a hiccup; you just need to know what docs you need with you and mind notams, for which Baja Bush Pilots or Caribbean Sky Tours can brief you on quickly and efficiently.

I found the excel file... If someone needs / wants the numbers, send me a pm with your email and I'll be happy to share. Joe, I emailed you the file already. RT

I see you finally bit the bullet Joe, congrats! I knew you'd enjoy those climbs... As to my old post with the numbers, it's somewhere here in the Modern Mooney forum but it's old... Should have been a post around 2007 - 2009 since I sold my Acclaim in '09... I'll look if I still have the numbers file and if I do, I'll re-post it. Regards. Roberto.

When conditions aren't right, remember, there are no emergency takeoffs...

And Cirruses too!!

Under normal operation conditions, your limitation is Vne (red line); however, in an upset that results in Vne exceedance I wouldn't hesitate to deploy them... Better have the airbrake mounting base bent than risking structural failure because of the overspeed.

Check out L3 Avionics Lynx NGT1000... Lists for $2,521 and complies with the ADS-B out mandate; it hooks up to existing mode C and S transponders; it may require a control panel that lists at $1,223. After all, you just need to be "out" compliant. Looks like this is my way around it...

Chances are you'll get flawless performance from a G1000; I've flown it for years first on a DA40 (G1000 launch customer), then the Acclaim, TBM850 and now on a Sierra modified citation 501... That's 9 years without a fault on any of those installations, and except for the DA40, all of them have been WAAS, and all of them except the citation, have had the GFC700 autopilot.

I truly doubt the filter and fuel governor adjustment are the culprits... 2 years after my factory refurb that cost the speed, and the factory had already shutdown, I sent my plane to Dugosh for an annual and they raised the issue that the fuel governor was out of whack; it got overhauled, readjusted, and the speed is still missing. The timing had been checked and rechecked too, so that's not my issue either....