VATMEX Fly-In

At the fly-in yesterday I heard ATX31 on Houston Center frequency and we set up a chat for most of the flight to Mexico City. He was dogedly trying to get ZHU's attention for liftoff from Laredo, and I had been airborne for a while, departing earlier from Austin. Actually ZHU was so busy, and I must have been just ahead of the horde lining up in Houston so my first contact with any ATC was entering MMTY airspace. They had two controllers on frequency - one speaking English and the other Spanish, so it was sort of a DI-lingual staffing. I flew the Vista Liners Boeing 727-100 Beta with a panel of my own mashed-up design. ATX31 was flying the CRJ-200. The airwaves were busy, but we got good attention from all the VATMEX staffed throughout Mexico. Closer to Mexico City, the terrain rose to the South and West and we got instructions to fly the TAMAL1A. In Mexico, there is a different terminal arrival procedure for each approach. We were cleared for the approach to Runway 5R, and this was my view from the flight deck.



Also notice the mass of radar echos - there's a lot of aircraft in the area. This was a fun event and I hope VATMEX does it again sometime soon.

VATMEX Fly-In Today

The !VIVA MÉXICO¡ Fly In begins today at 6:PM CDT (2300Z). AeroTexas has approved a good selection of round-trip flights to Mexico City. Suggested flight plans are below (thanks Ben!). You are encouraged to check the VATMEX Website for the latest information. See you in the air this evening - check the aerotexas voice channel during the event.

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Flight Plans

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ARRIVING Mexico City:
KAUS-MMMX: AUS2.SAT.J21.TMN.VITOS1A
KHOU-MMMX: PSX3.PSX.J177.TAM.UJ14.TMN.VITOS1A
KSAT-MMMX: BOWIE3.LRD.J21.TMN.VITOS1A
KELP-MMMX: CJS.UJ47.SLP.UJ45.QET.KOBEK1A

Departing Mexico City:
MMMX-KAUS: BETER1.BETER.J177.TAM.UJ19.MAM.J25.BRO.J25.CWK
MMMX-KHOU: BETER1.BETER.J177.TAM.UJ53.AGUAS.UJ25.CRP.LISSE6
MMMX-KSAT: BETER1.BETER.J177.TAM.UJ19.MAM.J25.BRO.J25.CRP.LEMIG1
MMMX-KELP: [SID].TLC.J13.PTJ.UJ45.SLP.UJ47.TRC.J42.DEL.UJ27.OMVAV

Flights to Mexico City (MMMX)

I'm just going to rehash what Ben sent me a few days ago. These will be the routes that will be available for the fly-in for AeroTexas. As far as a I know I don't think there's a reservation system, so you can just fly-in whenever you like on that day.

TO MMMX
KAUS-MMMX: AUS2.SAT.J21.TMN.VITOS1A
KHOU-MMMX: PSX3.PSX.J177.TAM.UJ14.TMN.VITOS1A
KSAT-MMMX: BOWIE3.LRD.J21.TMN.VITOS1A
KELP-MMMX: CJS.UJ47.SLP.UJ45.QET.KOBEK1A

FROM MMMX
MMMX-KAUS: BETER1.BETER.J177.TAM.UJ19.MAM.J25.BRO.J25.CWK
MMMX-KHOU: BETER1.BETER.J177.TAM.UJ53.AGUAS.UJ25.CRP.LISSE6
MMMX-KSAT: BETER1.BETER.J177.TAM.UJ19.MAM.J25.BRO.J25.CRP.LEMIG1
MMMX-KELP: [SID].TLC.J13.PTJ.UJ45.SLP.UJ47.TRC.J42.DEL.UJ27.OMVAV

The departure procedures vary in Mexico City, so there are more options than I have listed for the departure procedure out of Mexico City.

I would advise all participating pilots to have charts ready to reference for the Mexico portion of the flight; I was able to find everything at www.vatmex.com.

Thanks, Ben!