Guatemala in the Mist.
Our rush through Mexico ends with us leaving Tuxtla for Guatemala, we first have to get to Tuxtla. Tuxtla is inland and over the hills, the first part of the flight was straight forward but as we neared closer to the hills we started to experience updrafts and down drafts, nothing to awkward but we had to find our way through the hills without having to climb to high in the high temperatures of Mexico. As with the rest of Mexico everything was reasonably straight forward at Tuxtla, again we did not us an agent. All the personnel were helpful, in the end even the immigration people were pleasant. We did have to wait for immigration, but this was due to them being busy with a scheduled flight arriving and leaving from the main terminal.
During our wait we looked at our route into Guatemala, more accurately we looked at our route out of Tuxtla. Tuxtla is surrounded by restricted airspace with just a few corridors between them sized around 5nm wide. Taking these corridors means flying over some pretty big mountains; after extensive looking and scratching of the head we had no choice but to take one of these and head to the coast, it would mean climbing to around 10,000ft.
So off we set climbing out up to around 10,000 ft, ensuring to avoid any clouds and any thunder clouds. The temperatures were hot ad we finally ended up at 11,100 ft which equated to over 12,000 density altitude, G-DIGA was having to work very hard! Eventually the hills subsided and the coast appeared, we could start a nice descent through clear sky closer to the ground and head south.
AS we head south we were hopeful of being able to find our pass into Guatemala City, Guatemala city was reporting clear weather. but it is in a basin surrounded by hills. These hills from what we could see were covered in clouds and mist. As we edged closer we were getting more and more concerned, how are we going to get over the hills, to Guatemala City? We proceed further south hoping to get over the hills from the south, no luck. We found the main road from the coast to the city and followed that, again no luck it just disappeared into the mist. While all this was going on we were being harassed by San Jose tower, he wanted to know if we were VMC, he wanted to know our estimate for MGGT. Eventually we decide that we will not make it to MGGT, we have to divert, we can either go to San Jose or head further south to San Salvador City, MSSS. We have to fuel to MSSS, we decide to head further south. Sna Jose tower was beginning to panic, he did not want us to carry on south, he insisted that we return to either MGGT or MGSJ. We refused either and stated that we would head to MSSS, we had the fuel and MGSJ did not have customs. San Jose was getting more panicky, again he insisted on on landing at MGSJ. We ignored his demands and carried on south. MGSJ did not seem to k ow where we were even though we could see that our transponder was being interrogated. We would make it to the El Salvador border before they could get to us, we stood fast and carried on south.
Finally MGSJ acquiesced and past us on to El Salvador.
MSSS like MGGT is similarly behind the hills in a basin, but the hills and basin are at a lowered altitude. We more more hopeful of getting in. We shouldn't have been, the mist surrounded MSSS as well, we were not going to get into MSSS. At MGGT we were some six minutes away but could not make it, at MSSS we were 4 minutes away and still could not make it. Here however we could not just carry on south, we would have to land at the big airport closer to the coast San Salvador International MSLP. Luckily, MSLP were happy to take us (they had no choice really, but they could have been difficult and made life hard for us). They set us down far away from the airlines and arranged our fuel. They were all pleasant and informed us that we were w not the first today not to make it into Guatemala, a US Navy aircraft also diverted from MGGT to MSLP.
Our marshaller help us book a hotel by the hotel, we all ready had two booking in the system, one in Guatemala City and the other in San Salavador City. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.
We stayed at the Quality Inn and had a quiet night.
During our wait we looked at our route into Guatemala, more accurately we looked at our route out of Tuxtla. Tuxtla is surrounded by restricted airspace with just a few corridors between them sized around 5nm wide. Taking these corridors means flying over some pretty big mountains; after extensive looking and scratching of the head we had no choice but to take one of these and head to the coast, it would mean climbing to around 10,000ft.
So off we set climbing out up to around 10,000 ft, ensuring to avoid any clouds and any thunder clouds. The temperatures were hot ad we finally ended up at 11,100 ft which equated to over 12,000 density altitude, G-DIGA was having to work very hard! Eventually the hills subsided and the coast appeared, we could start a nice descent through clear sky closer to the ground and head south.
AS we head south we were hopeful of being able to find our pass into Guatemala City, Guatemala city was reporting clear weather. but it is in a basin surrounded by hills. These hills from what we could see were covered in clouds and mist. As we edged closer we were getting more and more concerned, how are we going to get over the hills, to Guatemala City? We proceed further south hoping to get over the hills from the south, no luck. We found the main road from the coast to the city and followed that, again no luck it just disappeared into the mist. While all this was going on we were being harassed by San Jose tower, he wanted to know if we were VMC, he wanted to know our estimate for MGGT. Eventually we decide that we will not make it to MGGT, we have to divert, we can either go to San Jose or head further south to San Salvador City, MSSS. We have to fuel to MSSS, we decide to head further south. Sna Jose tower was beginning to panic, he did not want us to carry on south, he insisted that we return to either MGGT or MGSJ. We refused either and stated that we would head to MSSS, we had the fuel and MGSJ did not have customs. San Jose was getting more panicky, again he insisted on on landing at MGSJ. We ignored his demands and carried on south. MGSJ did not seem to k ow where we were even though we could see that our transponder was being interrogated. We would make it to the El Salvador border before they could get to us, we stood fast and carried on south.
Finally MGSJ acquiesced and past us on to El Salvador.
MSSS like MGGT is similarly behind the hills in a basin, but the hills and basin are at a lowered altitude. We more more hopeful of getting in. We shouldn't have been, the mist surrounded MSSS as well, we were not going to get into MSSS. At MGGT we were some six minutes away but could not make it, at MSSS we were 4 minutes away and still could not make it. Here however we could not just carry on south, we would have to land at the big airport closer to the coast San Salvador International MSLP. Luckily, MSLP were happy to take us (they had no choice really, but they could have been difficult and made life hard for us). They set us down far away from the airlines and arranged our fuel. They were all pleasant and informed us that we were w not the first today not to make it into Guatemala, a US Navy aircraft also diverted from MGGT to MSLP.
Our marshaller help us book a hotel by the hotel, we all ready had two booking in the system, one in Guatemala City and the other in San Salavador City. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.
We stayed at the Quality Inn and had a quiet night.
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