| Crossing the Border - To Mexico! / Rose Marie Kern |
Anyone heading out of the country for the first time is faced with a lot of “do this don’t do that” regulations that get to be a tad confusing. Especially since there are different regulations for flying out of the United States, than there are for returning.
The one thing common to all flights leaving or entering the country is that you must be on a flight plan as you cross the Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ. This is also the case for those flights originating in the U.S., overflying the border and landing back in the U.S.
As long as you are only traveling over land, you do not have to file an ICAO flight plan from the United States into Mexico. Just the standard Flight Plan form works fine for VFR or IFR. The only modification to a normal flight plan is that in remarks you have to add the word ADCUS (Advise Customs), the number of people in the aircraft and the pilot’s name. (i.e.: ADCUS 2 Smith).
Once you have filed your outbound flight plan, proceed as normal concerning activation and getting your clearance, and cancelling at the other end with Mexican ATC.
If you are traveling across the Gulf of Mexico during your flight, you are required to use the ICAO flight plan form. To file an ICAO flight plan, call 1-800-432-4716.
Mexico requires that you land at a Port of Entry, but does not limit which one you can choose. So you can leave El Paso and land and clear customs at any recognized Port of Entry. AFSS has lists of these if you are in doubt.
In the last few years, many pilots have been flying into Punta Penasco (MMPE) on the western side of Mexico. This is not an official port of entry and Mexican Authorities have informed the U.S. that flight plans will not be accepted for Search and Rescue there, nor will they accept information into MMPE for customs notification. You still need to file and activate a flight plan in order to cross the ADIZ, but no one will be waiting to see if you get there safely or not.
What you can expect from a preflight weather briefing into Mexico is limited. The weather products available to us include METAR’s, TAFs, satellite photos and on occasion some winds aloft. Their winds aloft are listed by latitude/longitude rather than airport. We are also required to mention to pilots that they should “Check data as soon as practicable after entering foreign airspace, as our international data may be inaccurate or incomplete.”
Getting back into the U.S. is more involved than leaving because you have to satisfy the requirements of two agencies – the FAA and the U.S. Customs division of Homeland Security. Coming back you are required to land at the FIRST port-of-entry you encounter coming into the U.S. If you are wanting to overfly the border and land at another airport, you must request overflight permission from U.S. Customs in advance.
Customs requires notification of your flight at least one hour in advance of your landing at most stations. Some of the designated Ports require two hours because an agent has to be dispatched from elsewhere. There are several ways of meeting this requirement.
If you are leaving and know that you will be back in a week at a certain time you can call the Customs office at your destination and give the information directly to them, or you can file a Pre-Filed Customs Notification through Flight Service prior to leaving the U.S. An AFSS can take your Customs Notification up to 15 days in advance.
Some pilots mistakenly think that they are filing a flight plan from Mexico to the U.S. when they do this – that is not correct. It is illegal for us to file a flight plan leaving a foreign country, this must be done with a Mexican Flight Service. You are filing a Customs Notification only and it will not be used for Search and Rescue.
Upon Pre-filing a Custom’s Notification, you can ask Flight Service for a phone number you can call in case of changes. The 800 numbers do not work in Mexico, so you will need a “local” Flight Service number. For any flights into the U.S. landing in Texas or New Mexico, you can call 1-817-697-6110, for flights into Arizona or California call 1-928-778-0314. For any flights east of Texas call 1-305-233-2600.
It is also advisable to make sure you have a phone number for the appropriate Customs Office and the Radio frequency you will need as you approach U.S. airspace to obtain a Squawk code.
After you have filed and activated a VFR flight plan with a Mexican Flight Service, and are airborne heading north, contact Radio as far out as you possibly can. There is always the possibility of a computer interface problem or some kind of glitch which would delay your flight plan making it from Mexico into the U.S. system in a timely manner, and if that happens then we need to input or update your data into the Customs’ computer ASAP to give you the hour notification required by Customs.
Once you have established contact over the radio with an AFSS, we will ask you to give us the following information: Aircraft ID, Type, Airspeed, Altitude, Departure point, destination, ETA, Pilot’s name, number of people on board and their citizenship.
After you have given Radio this information, the AFSS will assign a VFR squawk code to your aircraft which tells Customs Radar that the aircraft is talking to ATC and is going to penetrate the ADIZ. You should continue using that code until you have crossed the border or another ATC facility assigns a different code.
IFR aircraft are tracked on radar all the way in. Unless they have a change to their ETA of more than 15 minutes, they usually do not need to call an AFSS.
Remember, when you land you are required to taxi directly to the Customs Ramp and stay in or close by the aircraft until an official comes out to process you. In the summer you may want to keep a cold drink on hand.
Say you want to leave a U.S. airport and fly along the border but do not intend to land in Mexico. Since you are penetrating the ADIZ you are still required to file a flight plan. If it is IFR, then the Center will take care of coordination with Mexico.
If you file VFR, be sure to ask Radio to assign a squawk code as you activate the flight plan. This will identify you as a “friendly” to Customs Radar. This practice is common for aircraft crossing the big bend area of Texas or the boot heel of New Mexico. Unless you stray outside of Customs radar coverage, or over about 15 miles south of the ADIZ, it is not necessary to clear Customs or land at a Port of Entry as you cross back into the States.
Before you go to Mexico the first time, I strongly suggest you wander over to a Customs office or call them and get some information on what you are allowed and not allowed to bring back into the country. Start with their website – www.customs.gov.
Flying to a new place can be fun, but do your research first and if you have any more questions call us at flight service. When you call the AFSS pilot briefing number be sure to ask for one of the stations servicing the border north of Mexico.
Rose Marie Kern works at Lockheed Martin’s ABQ AFSS. If you’d like to ask Rose a question send her an email at solarranch@aceweb.com.
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