There are two main types of airports. Airports with flight service that want you to file a flight plan, pay fees and go through security and airports that don’t do any of that.
A Flight Plan in Mexico is a three-page carbonless form that needs to be rubber-stamped by several offices prior to departure.
Sometimes you go through security to get to the window to submit your form. They will help you fill it out and each window attendant at each airport seems to want it filled out differently. Fill it out best you can and let them fill in the blanks. Often times you then need to go back to a window on the other side of security to get the form stamped, then back through security to turn the form into the originating window. It appears the form makes its way up to the tower, so they are aware of your intentions.
Upon arriving at each airport, you are greeted by young soldiers with rifles strapped around their shoulders. I found them to be very friendly. They want to get some basic information from you to put in their book. They typically want your tail number, aircraft type, your name, where you came from and where you will go next. Sometimes there are two soldiers, each looking for different information. I don’t speak Spanish, so this was often confusing for both me and the young soldier. I would typically hand him my copy of my last flight plan which would have all the information they need.
When fueling, you are asked for your type of aircraft as well.
ATC
There are quite a few TCA (Traffic Control Areas). See circles on the chart below. This is not a complete showing of the TCA areas. It is a chart I created for my reference while flying along the Sea of Cortez coastline.
I printed this chart for ATC frequency reference and it proved very helpful. I could see the airspaces on my Garmin Airmap 396, but not on my Garmin GTN 650 or my Garmin Pilot software on my iPad. Click the image of the chart to get a PDF file of this chart.
Five miles before crossing the border at Calexico, I radioed “Mexicali Approach, N12345, five miles north of Calexico, destination Guaymas.” Mexicali approach responded with “N12345, Good morning, squawk 1227, report 20 south of the station.” The airspaces are centered on the VORs and the controllers are at the associated airport tower. It is typical to report 50 miles out, over the station and again 50 miles away and leaving. The controllers give traffic advisories. I had ADSB and saw traffic they did not report, while they reported traffic I did see with ADSB.
I flew along the coast to avoid high terrain and to stay near civilization. Near Hermosillo and Culican I navigated over the stations to avoid restricted airspace, however, the controllers would clear me directly through the restricted areas. This appeared to keep me away from the bulk of their local traffic.
Our Airport of entry was Guaymas (MMGM). We were greeted by friendly customs agents. The process of getting through immigration, paying for fuel and an annual entry permit was confusing, although it went well, considering I did not speak Spanish with the multiple agents who did not speak English.
We then flew to Alamos, a non-towered airport. We were greeted by Daniel ad his son. Daniel spoke good English and said he’s been managing the airport for 20+ years. He helped the young soldiers get their data and we sat and chatted while we waited for our ride into town. We stayed at and enjoyed the simplicity of the Colonial Hotel. Alamos was really clean and quiet, and very small town friendly. No flight plan was needed to leave Alamos.
We then flew to Puerto Vallarta where we met up with Bongo and Ron in his Long-Eze. Alex had put us in touch with Sergio who helped us tie down in the less expensive transient parking area and helped us get rooms at the Flamingo. We found a good dinner along the marina.
The next stop was Acapulco, where Alex greeted us at the airport, helped us with tying down, fueling and getting to a van he provided for our week of adventure with him in Acapulco.