Flying in Mexico

MattyB

Well-Known Member
Just wondering if anybody had any experience flying in Mexico in a Mexican registered aircraft. I've heard and read that in order to get a Mexican pilot licence you must have been born in Mexico. Is there any way around that?

Might have an opportunity to fly a corporate aircraft in Mexico, but this might be a hurdle.

Thanks

Matt
 
Most corporate airplanes flying in Mexico are N registered, so you don't need to me mexican to fly in Mexico.
 
Most corporate airplanes flying in Mexico are N registered, so you don't need to me mexican to fly in Mexico.

The only license a foreigner can get in Mexico its the private, im dual national us and mex, im flying in mex with the airlines, for corporate flying as mentioned by jspeed87 there are some companies that have U.S. N, registreded aircrafts, but they only hire mexican nationals.
 
MattyB, I've flown & have my Mex lic. David is right you can only get a Pvt. with your US lic. To get anyother lic & rating you have to have been born there, have performed your military duty and as of Jan. 2011 will have to have a degree....the degree is new and as of right now has cause alot of problems for those who are in training and dont have a degree. The SCT is making it manditory due to the face the there is alot of lic. fraud.
 
Besides flying through Mexico for fun or work whatever I would cross it off the list of places to try to live or get time. I've trained a couple of guys from MX here and keep in touch with them. The airlines there are not in good shape and things are pretty rough. Locals are having a hard enough time finding work there nevermind an expat... and you can only really get a pvt if your not a citizen.

Not to mention the country is pretty dangerous these days with kidnappings in all. Unless your Spanish is up to speed and/or your staying in Cancun which is a tourist haven I'd be very careful. Mexico is probably more dangerous for Americans now than it was 25 years ago. That said I love MX I've been there a few times and it is a great country, truly, its just unfortunately not safe right now. If you want to go south of the border I would look more at Colombia, Panama, even VZ if you can speak Spanish and your willing to put up with Chavez. As I've posted here before I have some connections down there.
 
Besides flying through Mexico for fun or work whatever I would cross it off the list of places to try to live or get time. I've trained a couple of guys from MX here and keep in touch with them. The airlines there are not in good shape and things are pretty rough. Locals are having a hard enough time finding work there nevermind an expat... and you can only really get a pvt if your not a citizen.

Not to mention the country is pretty dangerous these days with kidnappings in all. Unless your Spanish is up to speed and/or your staying in Cancun which is a tourist haven I'd be very careful. Mexico is probably more dangerous for Americans now than it was 25 years ago. That said I love MX I've been there a few times and it is a great country, truly, its just unfortunately not safe right now. If you want to go south of the border I would look more at Colombia, Panama, even VZ if you can speak Spanish and your willing to put up with Chavez. As I've posted here before I have some connections down there.

To fly in Colombia you need to be citizen or permanent resident for a number of years. I would stay the hell out of VZ, most of the companies there have planes in really bad shape, sometimes they just disappear....

AS far as I know the only places you can work as a foreign in South America are Peru, Bolivia, Guyana and Chile..but most of the times they hire locals or Spanish, Portuguese and British citizens.

Many airplanes in South America carry N registration, but they are already registered as local planes, and they follow the rules of both countries, this is due to bureaucracy and the time it takes to do everything.
 
CORRECTION: Not Colombia I think Copa in Panama hires ex-pats. A couple guys on here just got hired down there. Spanish speaking is pretty much a must though, and Panama isn't known for being a very safe country either...

As for VZ I should have been more clear, I don't know much about there airlines. All the pilots I know down there are corporate pilots. Hawker, Citation, Gulfstream so again if your fluent and know someone or have a connection your in good shape. I agree that things are shady down there with mx and stuff, but the same can be said for many 135 cargo outfits here in the US too.

In 2008 I interviewed at a job fair and exchanged emails with a recruiter for LAN Peru, at the time I think I was under 1000TT, the deal breaker was I didn't speak Spanish. But they also hire Americans as well.
 
CORRECTION: Not Colombia I think Copa in Panama hires ex-pats. A couple guys on here just got hired down there. Spanish speaking is pretty much a must though, and Panama isn't known for being a very safe country either...

As for VZ I should have been more clear, I don't know much about there airlines. All the pilots I know down there are corporate pilots. Hawker, Citation, Gulfstream so again if your fluent and know someone or have a connection your in good shape. I agree that things are shady down there with mx and stuff, but the same can be said for many 135 cargo outfits here in the US too.

In 2008 I interviewed at a job fair and exchanged emails with a recruiter for LAN Peru, at the time I think I was under 1000TT, the deal breaker was I didn't speak Spanish. But they also hire Americans as well.

How can you live in South Florida and not speak Spanish??? :D

btw LAN Chile is hiring FOs (not rated) on the A320, they take Americans and FAA license.
 
Yes LAN is hiring, only bad thing about the deal is that your on your own dime in getting to Santiago and have to pay for the hotel for the week that you are there. Good if you get the job, bad if you dont make it through the selection process.
 
haha I speak basic "yo quiero taco bell" Spanish. But I've met a nice Nica girl that is teaching me more haha... as for LAN yeah... your on your own for the ticket down here, but Spirit is pretty cheap (compared to the others) and you can certainly make a two day vaca in Santiago if your so inclined ;)
 
Yes LAN is hiring, only bad thing about the deal is that your on your own dime in getting to Santiago and have to pay for the hotel for the week that you are there. Good if you get the job, bad if you dont make it through the selection process.

Unless you go for a direct entry, or a Capt position with very little competition, I doubt there is any airline that will pay for you flight or accommodation when you are coming from far this days. Inside the US and Europe this works, while I was in South East Asia, most pilots I met there just rolled the dice and flew there, some never even applied to the local airlines, they just showed up at the door. Chile is a nice country and Santiago is worth to visit (it`s a huge backpacker destination and you can find a good place to stay for cheap). I`m sure that most unemployed pilots in the US don`t have the extra $ just laying around for a trip like this, LAN is a really good company and the salary is the highest in Latin America.
 
Do you have a link to their website which has the hiring mins?

no min time to apply just ICAO IFR, ME, TR preferable. Fluent spanish/english. I think what really makes the difference is airline time if you have any.

A friend of mine told me that they have some American pilots based in MIA, but I doubt that will be for the A320 entry position.

They have an online application system or seleccion.pilotos@lan.com

Alex
 
no min time to apply just ICAO IFR, ME, TR preferable. Fluent spanish/english. I think what really makes the difference is airline time if you have any.

A friend of mine told me that they have some American pilots based in MIA, but I doubt that will be for the A320 entry position.

They have an online application system or seleccion.pilotos@lan.com
I believe you that they are hiring, but how do you know? How would someone browsing through their website know they are hiring?


Alex
 
I believe you that they are hiring, but how do you know? How does someone browsing their website know they are hiring?
 
b318191. It's so simple that i'm not even going to post it. It's the easiest way to find out if a company is hiring or not. If you are really interested you will find it.
I'm not saying your lazy by any means. the hint is ay que hablar y entender espanol. Best of luck!
 
b318191. It's so simple that i'm not even going to post it. It's the easiest way to find out if a company is hiring or not. If you are really interested you will find it.
I'm not saying your lazy by any means. the hint is ay que hablar y entender espanol. Best of luck!

You know I met many pilots telling me they can`t find a job, then I would tell them about companies and they would go ''but where it says they are hiring??'' Most of the airlines do post job position but for the rest of Aviation you may have changes even if they are not posting anything, I usually just search companies, I try to find a contact an send them an e-mail, most of the time, they tell they are not hiring, but many tell me that they are gonna keep my stuff in file, and I have already been called couple times after 5-6 months I got in touch with these peoples. If you wait for a sign that tells you we are hiring probably somebody else has already taken the job...Forums are a good place to start (sometimes you can talk to pilots that are already working at that company), just look at what are you interested in flying and where you wanna do it then search companies that do that type of flying in your desired area...I USE GOOGLE

an other good source is www.pilotjobsnetwrok.com

For LAN Chile, I was hanging out at the local airport and some pilots were talking about it...

Alex
 
The only license a foreigner can get in Mexico its the private, im dual national us and mex, im flying in mex with the airlines, for corporate flying as mentioned by jspeed87 there are some companies that have U.S. N, registreded aircrafts, but they only hire mexican nationals.

MattyB, I've flown & have my Mex lic. David is right you can only get a Pvt. with your US lic. To get anyother lic & rating you have to have been born there, have performed your military duty and as of Jan. 2011 will have to have a degree....the degree is new and as of right now has cause alot of problems for those who are in training and dont have a degree. The SCT is making it manditory due to the face the there is alot of lic. fraud.


I think the US should return the favor. If you won't allow US citizens, or people who aren't born in your country to fly your airplanes and make a living, then "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" Make it so they can't come over here and fly for our companies either. Can we all say "Fair Trade."
 
I think the US should return the favor. If you won't allow US citizens, or people who aren't born in your country to fly your airplanes and make a living, then "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" Make it so they can't come over here and fly for our companies either. Can we all say "Fair Trade."

I'm not American but worked in the US and would love to go back, but I totally agree with you! Most South/Central American countries don't allow foreigns flying there, not even residents but in the US there is a ton of them flying especially Brazilians and Mexicans, can you believe that a Brazilian friend of mine who is flying in the US send me a petition to sign AGAINST the change in law they want to make here in Brazil so that foreign (read it Americans!!!) pilots can fly!?!?! Not to mention the load of green cards the US sends to countries were an American is not allowed to do anything.

In Switzerland we have a law that allows foreign pilots to fly local registered airplanes only if in their own country a Swiss pilot is allowed to do the same, this would be a good solution in the US. In the rest of Europe there are no laws against non Eu citizens, it's all up to the airlines to decide, most of the time they take Europeans only because of Visas reasons foreign pilots will need in some of the places they fly. But can you believe that in Ireland and the UK pilots, members of the European union but citizens of former soviet countries can't fly...

In South East Asia they make a lot more sense, they are strict about foreign pilots but if the company really needs you and can't find anybody local there is no problems in most countries, residents also don't have any problems.
 
Just to be fair, and before this whole debate explodes in Tea Party style rhetoric:

Most countries have a citizens only policy in place because there would be a flood of pilots applying for jobs otherwise. Look at Asia and Middle East as examples. Latin American nations just don't have the demand for flying to justify non-citizens applying for jobs, and that would really hurt domestic pilots. In the U.S. most companies can't find ENOUGH qualified pilots as it is ( just look at how regionals are lowering minimums again) to meet the domestic demand for flights.

The one exception to this is Brazil. Their aviation industry has exploded in the past 10 years and is growing at a pace which reflects the country's new found economic success and gradual emergence as an economic world power. Not suprisngly, the debate to allow non-Brazilian citizens to fly for Brazilian airlines has already begun. It's not that Brazil was anti-immigrant in the past. It's just that the domestic demand was not there to justify bringing in foreign pilots/legal residents.

So it's a matter of not putting the cart before the horse. Brazil's domestic network and demand is now making opening up the airlines to non-Brazilian citizens seem viable. Before it wasn't, and for the rest of Latin America it continues to not be an option since they still do not have the domestic demand for flights like Brazil or the U.S.

If and when Mexico's economy begins to reflect Brazil's I'm sure their domestic demand for flights will increase accordingly. At that point there is no reason not to assume they will change their "only naturally born Mexicans" rule.
 
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