Search the Community

Thought I'd share an update here after the holidays with some pictures of a recent flight I did to Guatemala City and back from my current base of Atizapan, just north of Mexico City. On the 20th of December, I realized that I would have to leave Mexico before the end of the year in order to keep my plane legal. With some help from Jack at Baja Bush Pilots, I planned a trip to Guatemala (don't go to Belize, he said). We departed MMJC (Atizapan de Zaragoza, about 40 minutes north of Mexico City) at 7:15am with clear skies and flew more or less direct to Tapachula, Chiapas (MMTP), including amazing views of five volcanoes (Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, Nevado de Toluca, Malinche, and Pico de Orizaba) and a 30 some odd mile overwater flight (within gliding distance above 8500ft). Landing at Tapachula, we left the country without incident and picked up some fuel. The night before, I had coordinated with the Aeroclub Guatemala which helped me pre-register the aircraft with the Guatemalan FAA and be prepared for arrival. After having flown most of the past year in Mexico it was a pleasant surprise to speak with Guatemalan ATC. Friendly, courteous, clear, and with excellent English. Dodging clouds into Aurora airport (Guatemala City), the airport came into view and we descended through a 3 mile wide hole in the clouds to make an uneventful landing at the 9800 ft runway (at almost 5000 ft elevation). We taxied to customs where the military checked my pilots license however didn't ask for my passport, and my mother was then escorted inside the terminal building by a representative from the Aeroclub Guatemala. Twenty minutes later we had all of our permissions and were taxiing to the ramp at the Aeroclub. The Aeroclub is unlike anything I've ever encountered in my few years of flying. It's more like a yacht club than what we might know as a flying club. They have a massive amount of real estate at the airport, along with three private airports dotted around the country, complete with lodging facilities for their members. Guatemala has over 100 airstrips to fly to, many of which are accessible to our Mooneys. While we had initially planned to fly to the private strip at Rio Dulce, we ended up leaving the plane in Guatemala City while we spent a few days in Antigua, relaxing and enjoying the UNESCO World Heritage protected architecture. We bought textiles, visited the ruins of the some-odd 30 churches, visited a coffee plantation, and marveled at the Christmas-eve midnight fireworks. On the 26th, we departed Guatemala City after paying about $100 USD in landing, parking and FBO fees to re-enter Mexico at MMTP. There was some confusion with the immigration officer but eventually we were on our way back to Mexico City via the same inbound route, landing at 45 minutes before sunset. I highly, highly recommend flying in Guatemala, as well as the services of the Aeroclub. I will be returning in March to explore the country more.