Two other people responded that they were interested in going, but one couldn't make it since he was out of town, and the other ended up backing out because it was gonna be too expensive to justify doing just once. The thing about flying to Mexico is that in order to make it "economical," you really need to go more than once per year. There are some "fixed" annual costs, like insurance ($110/year) and a multi-entrance authorization ($50/year). If you're just going to Mexico for lunch, who wants to spend upwards of $200? Well, maybe some people would just to have done it -- I can relate to that. But for most, it's a little steep if you don't think you'll go back very often. Anyway, in the end, it was just Paul & Victoria who would end up going with us.
I went about planning the flight, and all I needed to know from Paul was what true airspeed he typically cruises at. I took care of the rest. A few days before we left I gave him the final checklist:
After Paul called San Diego FSS to file the outbound flight plan and customs notification northbound, he said he couldn't really believe it was that easy. Trust me...it sure is.
The only fly in the ointment was that the weather was forecast to be IFR at Chino Saturday morning. No problem for me and Jen, since we could blast out of there on an IFR clearance. Paul isn't instrument rated yet, though, so I just told him to meet me over Julian VOR at 7500' at 9am.
Saturday morning rolled around, and Jen and I hopped in the plane and took off -- about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. The weather was VFR (barely), so I didn't bother with the IFR clearance. We found a hole and poked up above the foggy broken layer, and climbed up to 7500' on our way to Julian. When we levelled off, I throttled way back to try to time my arrival over the VOR at about 8:58 or so. I was burning 4.9 gallons per hour, and we were still motoring along -- it's tough to deliberately fly this plane slowly!
Despite the scud below, the weather above was gorgeous.
I ate too many wasabi peas the night before and had to off-gas. Jen was not pleased...
We made radio contact with Rosie, who was on schedule for the 9am arrival over Julian. I throttled back more to kill time, and Jen did the usual -- read her book, did word puzzles...
...and conked out.
Here's the Palomar Observatory. At this point I was right over my Phase I test flight area (wooptedoo).
Killed a little more time taking one more photo while the autopilot was flying.
Rosie and I joined up over the VOR just after 9am, and we headed from there to Kumba intersection, on our way around the restricted airspace north of Imperial. Paul had filed his flight plan originating from Julian VOR at 9am, so he called San Diego Radio and opened his flight plan (I had opened mine with Riverside right after departure). They told Paul to contact them again 10 miles from the border to get a squawk code.
After reaching Kumba, we turned left and headed directly toward Mexicali VOR. 20 miles from the border I called San Diego Radio to get my squawk. I figured since there would be two of us yapping, I'd call up early so we don't end up squeezing it in too close to crossing time. The guy who answered didn't have a clue -- despite my having a flight plan not only on file, but activated. Anyway, he eventually just instructed me to squawk 1240 until crossing the border unless otherwise instructed by Mexicali Tower. Paul called in shortly after I did, and they gave him 1241.
Just north of the border, I called Mexicali Tower and announced my position, point of departure, and destination, and requested that they notify customs at Punta Penasco. They asked that I report over the station. Paul called in and got the same instruction. After crossing over MXL VOR, Mexicali Tower asked us to report 20 DME, and then 50 DME, at which point they gave us the frequency change to 122.8 for Punta Penasco.
Somewhere in there, it was time for photos. Here's a shot of Rosie coming in closer over the Mexican countryside just south of Mexicali.
It was a lot greener down there now compared to my last trip in mid-December.
Victoria had the photo honors while I reciprocated.
You probably remember photos that looked just like this from my trip down to Guadalajara. This is the Desierto del Altar.
Looking off to the southwest, I'm pretty sure that's Laguna Salada, the inlet of water just north of the Sea of Cortez.
We were in "cruise spread" and had been monitoring and using Channel 3 to communicate with each other while still on 118.2 with Mexicali. Once we were on 122.8, we could talk more, and I pointed out "that thing sticking out into the water up ahead" and mentioned that was where we were going. I think I remember Paul replying with, "That's 50 miles?!" It looked like it was right in front of us -- the visibility was awesome.
Anyway, at that point, Paul came back into parade formation, and we descended slowly toward Punta Penasco.
In this photo you can kind of see a little of Baja in the background.
I wish I got more photos of it. It was absolutely gorgeous down there. The water was clear and blue, and the color was something you'd see in the Caribbean (or in Mexico, I suppose). Just gorgeous. I think Victoria got some shots of Jen and me at an angle that will show the water...I'll post the photos here if and when I get 'em.
Anyway, we flew in formation along the beach, past the little town to the north...
...past the hotels, past the port and the town, and then swung over the airport for an overhead, left break. We landed on runway 29, which is in fair shape. A little rough, but barely worth mentioning.
We pulled up to the ramp and shut down, and the typical teenage armed guard greeted us and wrote down our details. This one actually had a piece of paper with fields for the data -- at Guadalajara the guy had just a scratch notepad with random scribblings in it. I get the sense these "notebooks" that the military kids keep don't actually get kept around very long.
After the guard gave us the "Es todo," we pushed the planes back to whatever space we could find on the ramp, which was chock full (or more accurately, pretty small to begin with). I pushed 14D back right next to this dilapidated Cessna, which didn't look like it would be pulling out anytime soon (flat tires).
We went to the airport terminal building to do whatever was in store for us.
This place is way less organized than the other spots I've been to. At Obregon and Guadalajara, it was more or less obvious who the Comandante was, where to go, etc. Here at Punta Penasco, we just kind of wandered into the building -- there was nobody there at the customs "stop light" to do anything customs-wise, and there were just some people (who definitely didn't look like they were the Comandante) hanging around. Finally a guy with a clipboard came by, and Paul -- who speaks excellent fluent Spanish -- managed to find out that he's el jefe, and we would need to give him our paperwork.
The guy disappeared for about half an hour. We sat on a couple of couches and just waited for who knows what to happen who knows when. At least it felt like that. Finally Alonso (the Comandante) came back from wherever, and made photocopies of our airworthiness, registration, and insurance. It was kind of strange...Paul conversed in perfect Spanish with him and arranged for a cab -- and when Alonso talked to me he spoke in perfect English. Alonso mentioned that we'd need to fill out paperwork for our multi-entrance authorization, but he ended up saying he'd work on that while we were gone (he didn't).
The cab showed up, and Aurelio, the driver, chatted with Paul incessantly in Spanish. We drove into town, which is very touristy, but the ocean views are beautiful. The weather was perfect...clear, sunny, and warm.
This place is definitely angled toward Americans coming down and spending money. It's not like Guadalajara or the towns near it like Chapala or Ajijic, where the dollar goes incredibly far. Prices at Puerto Penasco are what you'd expect to see at a vacation resort area. That said, the food was excellent. We ate at an "upscale" restaurant with outdoor seating with views of the water.
The area is known for its shrimp, and I had "Camarones Carlos" (upper left) for lunch, a bacon-wrapped shrimp dish. Despite costing 15 bucks, It kicked butt.
After lunch we walked around and "shopped." Pretty much the typical tourist trap trinkets and things. I don't mean to sound jaded about it, it was great to be there -- I just much prefer the less touristy spots, less angled toward American visitors.
One cool part was that Aurelio didn't take any money from us on the cab drive to the restaurant. He said he would pick us up at 2:30 and we could settle up at the airport. That kicked butt, since we didn't have to worry about getting a cab ride back, and the "honor system" about paying him was kind of comforting, knowing we probably weren't gonna get ditched. Back at the airport on schedule, we needed to take care of the authorization paperwork and skedaddle. Yet again we sat on the couches, waiting for Alonso to do something. Who knows what. He was in the office on the computer. After about half an hour, he finally printed the forms. His style of doing paperwork is one person at a time. Forget efficiency, we're on Mexican time. So, one at a time, we filled out the paperwork and paid for the auth and landing fee. It was $55 total, $50 for the multi-entrance authorization, and $5 for the landing fee. Despite all the waiting, this was really cheap -- because the auth is good all year, and we didn't get charged for any airspace use, airport fees, etc. Granted, we didn't buy fuel (which is where you usually get hit with those fees), but this was pretty painless. In essence, it cost us 5 bucks to do our thing there.
I pitched in 10 bucks, and Paul ended up tipping Alonso a $20. Alonso immediately went into apology mode, making excuses about the construction going on at the airport, yadda yadda. Well, he did say that next time it will be "3 minutes in, 3 minutes out." Ok, I'll believe it when I see it...
I may have been spoiled with my experience at Obregon. It was so much faster and more organized by comparison. I will definitely continue to use Obregon as my point of entry and exit when doing the Guad trip.
Anyway, back on the ramp, we preflighted and headed out. I got a couple more pictures before starting up.
Jen had to be back at Chino at 5pm, since she had to work at 5:30. We were 45 minutes behind schedule thanks to the slow paperwork drill.
One more shot of the airport terminal building.
The threshold for runway 29 is right there, adjacent to the small ramp.
As we taxiied over to the runway, I couldn't get the rudder locked with the tailwheel. I had literally just greased the tailwheel pivot the day before...whenever I fly in rain, it tends to wash the grease out. It had been fine on departure out of Chino, and it was fine taxiing here at Penasco earlier. I figured maybe I had put too much grease in or something, and the pin must have been gunked up or whatever. Oh, well...not a big deal. I can easily deal without tailwheel steering for a couple of simple takeoffs and landings.
We took off, and contemplated another pass by the town and beach, but in the interest of getting Jen home in time for work we just headed straight out. The flight to Calexico was just under an hour. After levelling off, we contacted San Diego Radio on 122.6 and updated our arrival time so that customs would be notified.
50 miles out of Mexicali, we contacted Mexicali Tower on 118.2, and we were given the same squawks we had been assigned in the morning...I was instructed to squawk 1240 (Paul got 1241) until crossing the border, then squawk VFR. Mexicali requested that we report abeam the station. Our route of flight direct to Calexico took us just west of MXL. As we passed abeam, we called in, and they gave us the frequency change. A minute later, we were across the border, squawked VFR, and entered the pattern at Calexico.
After landing, customs came on Unicom and told us we should park on the white line in front of the customs building. We taxied back over there, and the white line splits into two white lines. With my luck, I picked the wrong white line. No big deal...anyway, pick the one closer to the building. Two customs officers came out, asked us where we had departed, looked at our passports, and took our 178 forms. That was it. It took literally 20 seconds to clear. Brown was pretty easy last time, but Calexico is even easier. It's oriented on a more direct route home, and it seemed way faster to me. Might have just timed it right, but I'll be using Calexico going forward.
Here's Rosie on the correct white line, having moved his plane over to get fuel after we were done with customs.
Paul needed to get fuel before heading off to Rosamond, but I had more than enough to get to Chino (love the bigger tanks and fuel injection...). In the interest of time, Jen and I took right off and headed home.
We dodged some scud on the way back, and we pulled up at the hangar just after 4:45, 15 minutes early. Jen made it to work on time and everything...it couldn't have worked out any better.
This was definitely a cool time. I think the most enjoyable part was showing Paul how ridiculously easy flying to Mexico is. That, and the kick butt bacon-wrapped camarones. Will I go back to Punta Penasco? Maybe. Probably not for a while. I'd like to check out some other spots first, and I've got another Guadalajara trip coming up in June. I'm gonna put the multi-entrance auth and insurance to good use this year, hopefully.
So to sum up, I logged 4.0 hours on the meter and burned 32 gallons. Made it down and back without needing to refuel. Paul flies at 155 knots (fixed pitch), which is more than 20 knots slower than I normally fly cross-country. So I had my engine just barely sippin' fuel, and it was an efficient trip. Aside from the "fixed annual costs" like insurance and the reusable multi-entrance authorization, the trip cost $5 for landing fee, $20 for taxi, $25 for lunch for two, and $10 to tip Alonso for next time...and $80 for fuel. So $140 total -- not too bad for a nice day-trip for two to Mexico.
Back at the hangar, first things first -- let's see what's up with the tailwheel. Here's the "key" that controls whether or not the tailwheel and rudder are locked together. The key is square and inserts into the pivot shaft up against a spring, which forces it out of the hole and engages it with the control horn. When I removed the tailwheel, the shaft initially looked like it might have sheared. When I first noticed the symptom earlier today I figured that might have been what happened. But after cleaning off the grease, I saw that the shaft had somehow jammed inside the hole. I had to tap it from the other side with a hammer to get it out.
I figured maybe some gunk got in there and prevented the key from sliding smoothly. I degreased and cleaned everything up thoroughly, then regreased the key and pushed it in. It wouldn't go all the way in. Huh? Oh... Here you can see the problem. The arrows point to two little tiny "burrs" of metal deformation at the corners. I took my hangarmate's digital calipers (thanks Linas) and measured the width and height of the key. The width was consistent, but the height had a bulge at the rounded end, right where you see those shiny build-ups. The height was .2495" tall all along the shaft until the burrs, where it was .2515" tall. Those two thousandths of an inch are what jammed the key and caused me to lose tailwheel steering. Pretty tight tolerances here.
To fix it, all I did was gently file away the burrs, filed the corners nice and square, and it's silky smooth now. It took about 390 hours for this to occur, but I'll bet I could have seen it coming sooner (i.e. the last time I had the tailwheel apart for clean & regrease) had I known what to look for. Anyway, this goes on the checklist -- and I will probably buy and carry a spare key in my little travel parts kit. Keep this in mind next time you've got your tailwheel apart...if you see any build-up in this area, file it down.