Next Stop, Roatan!

Honduras here we Come

We got a reasonably early start Sunday morning, arriving at MMCZ (Cozumel Airport) around 9 or so. Went straight to the FBO, located past the main terminal by 100 feet, to the Operations desk. There we got a Plan de Vuelo (Flight plan) and figured out our routing. I gave us one hour 15 minutes to departure time, thinking we could easily get everything done by then. We proceeded to obtain the same four stamps of approval: operations, Immigration, Customs, and El Jefe. In that order, by the way. Operations charged a $20 airport fee. Immigration, Customs, and the Airport Supervisor are all located in the main terminal. Also there were about two hundred people waiting to check in. We pilots smugly walked through the line, to the window at immigration, where there was no line. The same kind gentleman who saw us through immigration upon our arrival was working (he told me that he would be), and he greeted us like old pals. It took him 5 minutes to process our flight plan, then we went to the Customs window, which is literally twenty feet to the left. Customs signed our form in 30 seconds, after which we proceeded across the airport lobby to the stairs leading up to the airport offices, there the supervisor was located. Also very polite and professional, they stamped our flight plan and also gave me a certificate so that I could fly in to Mexico as many times as I want within the year. That cost $65, the same price as a onetime entry. I had actually purchased this upon arrival but it takes a little while for them to write it up so I said I would just pick it up upon departure. Worked without a hitch.

Back to operations, where we checked the weather. Then through security (at the FBO; no line) and onto the tarmac, where the red sled was awaiting. Called for fuel, and after a 10 minute wait, a truck rolled up and filled us. By hen we had thrown all our crap into the plane, including the surfboard and huge bag. We were right on time, with 5 minutes to spare. Unfortunately the fuel truck had taken my credit card and said they would be right back with it. Not really. It was a good ten or 15 minutes before they returned. At that point we were maybe 5 minutes past filed departure time, still within the 15 minute window.

Romeo Bravo WHAT?

N7154U fired up immediately. Collin talked to the Tower (also clearance delivery and ground) and you could tell they wanted to get us going, either because we were bumping up against filed departure time or because they had other flights to take care of. We were not yet ready with our flight route; and when Collin took departure procedures down, neither one of us could understand the dispatcher. “7154U, upon takeoff climb 2000 romeo bravo three to Xoren.” That’s what she said. What I heard; “7154 uniform three thousand romeo bravo three Zorro.” What?? Collin asked her to repeat but still we had no idea what she was saying. Did I mention we didn’t have PLATES??? Big mistake. Collin wisely told Tower we were not familiar with the instrument departure procedure and tower gave us VOR radials with climb info. Then, tower was like, “7154U, line up and wait runway 09.” I called them to tell them we weren’t ready. They said “that’s okay, line up and wait.” I had just completed the runup but Collin was still waiting for the L3 map to load into his iPad. We however taxied onto the runway, and sat there, waiting for an eternity to figure out what the heck Zorro was. Tower called us again, wanted to know if we were ready to take off. We still were not. You could tell they wanted us to take off as we were definitely running up against the 15 minutes grace period past departure time. We took off and flew vectors (I believe it was 220 along the CZM radial to 3000, to XOREN, an intersection we didn’t know about) as instructed. My GPS does not have international airways, intersections, or VORs but it does have airports. We took off and climbed out as instructed and then Collin gave me lat lon fixes for the intersections we would need to fly to, to stay on airways. I inputted manually the fixes into the flight computer and then constructed a flight plan on the GPS. This worked just fine. Of course, it was something we should have done hours, if not days, before. We also thought we would have plates with us. Lesson learned. More homework would be necessary prior to flight planning. Also, next time I would give more time to ETD. At leat 90 minutes. We both definitely felt rushed to get off the ground.

We leveled out at 10,000. The red sled was running well; we had averaged better than 9 gph from Florida to Cozumel, and consumed (leaked out) maybe a half quart of oil. At 10,000 we cruised at 137k ground speed all the way to Roatan, Honduras. ATC once again worked just like in the US, with Cozumel tower handing us over to departure, then to Roatan Tower 100 miles out (!). 60 miles out I began my descent, hitting the island at 3,000 and flying over it at 2,000. We were cleared for a visual approach, runway 25, and it was a clear but breezy day. My approach was a little tight; the airport is on the edge of the island and I don’t like flying over water at 1000 feet or lower, so I tend to fly my downwind leg close to the runway, meaning my base is basically a continuous turn on to final. Touchdown, Welcome to Honduras!

It is much hotter in Roatan than Cozumel. This is the tropics! Yes! One woman came out to the plane immediately and asked for some paperwork; mostly she wanted to see our permission slip to land in Honduras. I had not printed it out but it was on my computer and I showed her that, and she was satisfied. (Not sure if I talked about this earlier, but I submitted electronically a flight permit request from the Honduras Civil Aviation Authority and got approval in less than 24 hours. Piece of cake.) Then Customs came out, sprayed my plane with some bug killer, and told us to go to immigration. We did, with our bags, at which point the immigration officer asked for my passenger manifest. I did not have this. I filled one out in Mexico but was not given a copy. She did not like this, but of course on the flight plan form was a list of passengers so I suggested we could use that. The officer reluctantly agreed. So I went looking for the person who had it. This was operations. The Operations office is located one or two doors before the international arrivals door, on the tarmac. I went in and asked for the plan back. I then went back to the passport desk, showed her it, and proceeded to Customs, where they xrayed our bags. After that I repacked some stuff and made a couple trips back and forth to the plane (each one taking 10 minutes) to drop stuff off/pick stuff up. I got way too much crap with me. Thank God Collin decided to leave his board on the plane. We took our headsets and flight computer with us this time, and hopped a cab to the West End. Seemed like a good idea. But we had no idea where to go, or what to do, in Roatan. We found out right quick.

Summary: Departure at Cozumel cost a total of $20. There was no ramp fee. Fuel was $3.88 per gallon, all taxes included. Landing permit for one year for Mexico, $65. Honduras Customs fee, $14. Conducting a visual approach into Roatan Island, Honduras; priceless.