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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.

This is overflying the airport at Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) this morning on my way home from a Flying Samaritans trip. <http://www.flyingsamaritansaz.org/Tucson/index.html> This is another Fly360 video which means it works best in the Youtube app on the iPad (and I assume Android). It does not display properly in the Safari browser. Chrome is OK, but the iPad app is far superior. Using the Youtube app you hold the iPad in front of you and can pan 360º. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnyIzEMxP2U

This is climbing out of Robertson's Ranch this morning with the Flying Samaritans. <http://www.flyingsamaritansaz.org/Tucson/index.html> This is another Fly360 video which means it works best in the Youtube app on the iPad (and I assume Android). It does not display properly in the Safari browser. Chrome is OK, but the iPad app is far superior. Using the Youtube app you hold the iPad in front of you and can pan 360º.

This is departing Robertson's Ranch this morning, a private airstrip near San Quintin on the west coast of the Baja of Mexico. I go down here regularly with the Flying Samaritans. <http://www.flyingsamaritansaz.org/Tucson/index.html> This is another Fly360 video which means it works best in the Youtube app on the iPad (and I assume Android). It does not display properly in the Safari browser. Chrome is OK, but the iPad app is far superior. Using the Youtube app you hold the iPad in front of you and can pan 360º.

Below are this weekend's videos with my Fly360 camera mounted on the glare shield. Viewing is best on an iPad running the Youtube app. Hold it in front of you and move up and down, etc. so you have the same views I had in the cockpit. I departed KAVQ (Tucson) and landed at MMSF (San Felipe, MX). Then flew to a Robertson's Ranch, private airstrip on the west coast of the Baja that we've named MRBR. Then back to KTUS (Tucson International) to clear customs. I forgot to turn the camera on before departing MRBR and didn't film the final leg from KTUS-KAVQ. Next is to fabricate an external mount to get a cleared picture not going through the Plexiglass. Departing KAVQ Landing San Felipe: Landing Robertson's Ranch: Landing Tucson:

Same trip as the Landing El Rosario one. Same issues. Don't use Safari.

This is my very first video upload to Youtube. It is with my 4K Fly360 camera (you may control the camera through 360º but cannot use Safari as a browser to do so). The camera is on the glare shield and there is glare and tinting but the image quality was severely degraded in the upload. I'll have to look into that. This was departing Dimante Del Mar airstrip near El Rosario Mexico on the Baja. It was a Flying Samaritans trip. I go on 5-6 of these trips per yer including this weekend again. I'll see about getting better views this trip.

This is just before the landing at El Rosario. We "buzz" the town on our way in to let them know we're arriving. Buzzing the town is just doing a 360º about 2,000 ft above the town

Landin g El Rosario.