News

Flying To Mexico

ByHank Gibson June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

I took a Piper Malibu to Cabo San Lucas a few weeks back. This was my second trip flying to Mexico, but the first where I arranged everything. Cabo is a beautiful place and the MMSL airport is a fabulous facility. For those who haven’t been fying to Mexico before, MMSL is the place to go. The folks there are extremely helpful and do most of the paperwork for you. You just have to pass along your information to them.

Flying to Mexico and back out is different than flying in the US. First of all, don’t forget your passport. The authorities on both sides frown upon that. You’ll probably get sent back to the US (or sent back to Mexico if you are on your return trip). Your aircraft also needs, Mexican insurance (talk to your US insurance agent) a radio license, and a customs decal.

Second, you’ll have to file an ICAO specific flight plan for flying to Mexico. This is available on Foreflight now, but I really like Fltplan.com’s way of doing it. I don’t fly internationally enough to remember what everything means, but Fltplan.com does a great job of walking pilots through the the different classifications. It’s almost impossible to get confused.

Third, you have to fill out an eAPIS form. This has to be done at least 24 hours prior to departure from the US, but it can be done as far in advance as you’d like. If your departure time changes or your passengers change, you can edit the eAPIS form to bring it current.

Flying to Mexico IFR is a lot simpler than flying VFR. I have only flown IFR and it is very easy. I’m already on a flight plan, already squawking a discreet code, and already on radar, so there really isn’t any way I can mess up the ADIZ penetration. I really recommend going in and out of Mexico IFR instead of VFR.

Once you land in Mexico, you have to close your IFR flight plan. The tower doesn’t do this for you. After clearing customs, you’ll have to pay a landing fee and sign your flight plan confirming you have arrived and closing it out.

When departing, you have to file another eAPIS 24 hours in advance. Wherever you plan on clearing Customs in the US, you’ll need to call the Customs office no less than 1 hour, but not more than 23 hours before arrival. It’s called an Advanced Notice of Arrival.

You’ll need to fill out a paper flight plan before departing, clear customs again to leave, then away you go.

There are a lot of really fun getaways in Mexico and flying there doesn’t have to be difficult. When you have the right information, flying to Mexico can be a breeze!

Aviation News: The Formation of ONE Aviation
ByHank Gibson April 30, 2015May 1, 2015

Earlier this month, Eclipse Aerospace and Kestrel Aircraft merged to form ONE Aviation. Most pilots are familiar with Eclipse, who makes the Eclipse 550 jet, but not many have heard of Kestrel Aircraft.

Kestrel Aircraft is run by Alan Klapmeier, co-founder of Cirrus Aircraft and brother to Dale Klapmeier, who still runs Cirrus. Klapmeier joined Kestrel in 2010 and brought innovation to the K350 Turboprop design that Kestrel was developing. Kestrel has been lacking in investors to further their project, but the merger will help a lot in getting more funding. Klapmeier assumed the CEO role for ONE Aviation.

The merger will also help bring more innovations to the Eclipse 550. The original Eclipse Jet was a miserable failure and the company went into bankruptcy in 2009. The Eclipse Jet came back to market in 2013 as the Eclipse 550 with many much needed improvements, including making GPS a standard amenity.

Klapmeier and his genius will lead ONE Aviation in good directions. The K350 will come to market a lot sooner as more investors will be drawn to the company, while the Eclipse 550 will continue to see new and innovative developments.
Brady Texas Fly In (KBBD)
ByHank Gibson February 11, 2016February 11, 2016

6th Annual Armed Forces Weekend Celebration & Fly-In, May 20-21, in Brady, TX and Curtis Field (KBBD)!

Friday Night on the Square – FREE

Fly-In Saturday, 9-4 – FREE

A Night in London with Sentimental Journey Orchestra
Saturday night 7-11 PM
Tickets for Dinner & Dance, $30 available at www.morganmilitaryaviationmuseum.com.

Some fuel is available for warbirds! Please contact the airport if you would like to bring one!
Diamond DA50 RG
ByHank Gibson July 15, 2020July 15, 2020

Diamond Aircraft announced in June that the company is going to bring it’s Diamond DA50 RG to market. The company expects European certification in early 2021 and FAA certification toward the end of 2021.

This is not the first iteration of the Diamond DA50, but it is the first with retractable gear. Diamond is known for it’s use of Jet A burning piston engines and you can’t beat the efficiency. The technology in the Continental CD-300 Jet A piston engine is new, but it has been in development for a long time. Diamond advertises 180 knots on only 9 GPH, which is just about as efficient as you can get with a single engine piston.

The addition of the retractable gear from previous iterations of the Diamond DA50 RG is a nice touch. Diamond already had the RG technology from the DA42 Twin Star as well as the more powerful cross country machine, the DA62. Equipping the single engine Diamond DA50 RG with retractable gear just makes sense. It definitely puts the airplane in a class of it’s own.

Diamond’s website shows a nice roomy cabin in the DA50 RG with plenty of space to spread out, plus plenty of baggage. The fuel tanks only hold 50 gallons of Jet A (which still gives a 4 hour + range with an hour reserve at 9 GPH), so the payload, even with full fuel, is an eye popping 897 lbs, though Diamond’s site does not mention if that includes TKS, air conditioning, and oxygen. If it does, then compare that to a fully fueled Cirrus SR22T (which would give an equal speed) at 537 lbs and the Diamond DA50 RG has an argument.

As with all new airplanes these days, the Diamond DA50 RG has the Garmin G1000 NXi complete with keypad and the GFC 700 autopilot with yaw damper. The interior has a 3 person bench seat for the back seat, which, at least to the naked eye, appears that it might actually fit 3 adults, albeit small ones. Diamond’s signature stick in the middle of the seat is still present for the front seats, but the right seat stick in the Diamond DA50 RG is removable for passenger comfort, a nice touch.

The single engine piston market is a hard one to break in to since Cirrus has such a leg up on the competition. However, with a Jet A burning engine, a higher payload, and a roomier cabin, the Diamond DA50 RG might actually be able to make an impact. Look for this bird at Sun N Fun and Osh Kosh in 2021.
Keeping Your Margin
ByPete Greenwald November 23, 2016December 6, 2016

Just south of the equator in the mountains of Papua, Indonesia on the island of New Guinea, pilots spend their days carrying food, building supplies, doctors, pigs, and passengers into some of the most remote and extreme airstrips on the planet. That’s where I fly.

Each morning I load my Cessna Grand Caravan with 2,600 lbs of (insert strange cargo here) and depart my home base of Wamena just after the sun sends its first rays of light across the waking skies above. I spend my day winding through narrow valleys and crossing high altitude mountain passes with building clouds and poor communication, only to land on short, narrow airstrips with steep slopes and little room for error. Most of these one-way in, one-way out runways require me to commit to landing well before touchdown due to terrain that is too close to allow for a safe go-around. Everything better be right when I cross that decision point or I could be in for some excitement.

The need to keep wide margins of safety might seem obvious in environments like mine, but that doesn’t make them any less important where you fly. You may be a new pilot or an old timer, but keeping your margin should always be on the top of your priority list.

Let’s unpack this further. Margin is not just maintaining the regulatory requirements for cloud clearances or minimum altitudes. It’s more than planning for an alternate airport or carrying the required fuel reserve. Margin is breathing room. It is that extra maneuvering room, the Plan C, the well thought out options that provide you multiple “outs” in any given situation. Margin is what gets you home when things take a turn for the worse.

Margin comes in all shapes and sizes. For myself it includes maintaining double my required turn radius in narrow valleys or choosing not to land when my groundspeed is just 1 knot too high at a short and slippery airstrip. For you, it could be determining a ceiling or visibility minimum requirement that is more conservative than the legal ones or setting a wind limitation that you know is reasonable. When it comes down to it, keeping your margin means you don’t push to the ragged edge of your skill or the aircraft’s capability.

Margin can also refer to your mental or emotional capacity. Are you mentally prepared to divert and miss that important event because the weather is getting bad? Are you ready to handle the disappointment of passengers when you arrive over your airstrip and choose not to land due to approaching rain or a factor that is difficult for a non-pilot to understand? Are you willing to cancel a flight on an important client because you are coming down with a cold or didn’t get adequate sleep? As the PIC of your flying machine, you alone are responsible for the safety of the aircraft and the people on board and those are the tough calls that only you can make.

Fatigue, overconfidence, and complacency are the biggest obstacles to keeping your margin. They are all very subtle dangers and you may be experiencing them without even recognizing it. Fatigue can slow down your thought process leaving you behind the plane and backed into a corner before you know it. Overconfidence might cause you to push weather or commit to a course of action that has no favorable alternatives. Complacency will lead you to believe that, because you have 2000 hours in a particular make and model, you don’t need to do a thorough preflight or complete the pre-landing checklist.

Regardless of experience level, operating environment, fancy avionics, and level of proficiency, margin is something that we all need plenty of. So as you go about your upcoming flights, be asking yourself what you can do to build in more margin. It just might be what gets you home.

Pete Greenwald is a transplant to Atlanta, Georgia who has fallen in love with all things Southern, including his wife, Ashley. As a pilot and A&P with Mission Aviation Fellowship, he flies the Cessna Grand Caravan in Papua, Indonesia serving people who live in isolation. In his spare time he is on the hunt for the best burger around.
Hold Anywhere
ByHank Gibson December 21, 2016September 24, 2018

The latest Garmin software version on the Garmin G1000 and Cirrus Perspective by Garmin has a really neat feature. It gives the pilot the ability to create a hold at any fix, VOR, NDB, or even airport. If the point is in the GPS database, a hold can be created over it.

How does it work? Here are the steps.

Let’s say ATC tells you to hold over an intersection on a Victor Airway that you are already on. Since you are tracking the airway already, the airway should be in your flight plan complete with all the waypoints on it.

Bring up your flight plan and highlight the waypoint to hold at. Press the menu key. Using the big knob, scroll down to highlight the hold at waypoint option at the bottom of the bottom of the menu. Press enter.

Now you can build the hold. You select what the inbound or outbound course will be. Select a timed hold or a distance hold. Then select left or right hand turns. You can even input your expect further clearance time. Press enter and now you have a hold as a waypoint in your flight plan. Assuming you have a WAAS unit, the autopilot will fly the hold for you.

If you are ever told to “Hold Present Position,” Garmin has you covered. Simply press menu on the flight plan page, scroll down to Hold Present Position, then follow the prompts on the screen to build a hold at your present position.
Flight Watch to be Discontinued
ByHank Gibson September 1, 2015September 8, 2015

The FAA has decided to discontinue the dedicated En Route Flight Advisory (EFAS or Flight Watch) frequency 122.0. The effective date will be September 24th, but Flight Service will continue to monitor the frequency for an additional six months to direct pilots to Flight Service Station frequencies.

EFAS services will still be provided by Flight Service, though, on the published Flight Service Station frequencies (and 122.2).

To me, this makes some sense. In the past, if I accidentally contacted Flight Service on one of their frequencies to issue a pilot report or get a weather update, they would send me over to Flight Watch on 122.0. More than likely, the Flight Watch operator was sitting right next to the Flight Service operator, but I had to flip frequencies. This will help alleviate some confusion for pilots.

The deactivation of Flight Watch had been coming for years since the advent of Foreflight and other iPad and tablet apps giving pilots much easier access to weather, both in flight and on the ground. With Nexrad and Stratus, there isn’t much need for Flight Watch anymore (though you still can’t file a PIREP over the XM Weather!).

For more information, check out AOPA’s website.