Member's Home Forums General Discussion Mexico 406 MHz ELT Extension - June 30, 2018

Today we formally presented our request to extend the 406 MHz ELT requirement for US and Canadian registered aircraft visiting Mexico.

We have once again begun working with Mexico's DGAC to request another postponement of the 406 MHz ELT requirement. This is an issue that we have been working on with the DGAC since 2008 and have been successful in getting postponements to this requirement in writing. We have submitted a number of documents including risk analysis, economic analysis and precedents in other countries to make our point. We are also working closely with the Mexican Federation of Pilots, FEMPPA, who have similar interests in seeing this regulation postponed (or hopefully eliminated) for private aircraft.

With the change of power here in Mexico at the end of last year, we decided to wait until the new head of the DGAC was selected and the for the subsequent shake-ups to work their way through before beginning to request an extension of the existing deadline of June 30, 2013. Today we had a positive conference call with the DGAC in Mexico City and we will continue to provide whatever information they require.

As always, we are grateful to Mexico's DGAC for being receptive to our petitions and to those of the other general aviation organizations here in Mexico who have all worked hard to get these postponements enacted.

We will keep you posted on how things progress.

Hi Rick,

Hope all is well in your world! What's the latest update on the ELT extension? Just signed up for the Pilot's association, but didn't see any new info there. Thanks for providing such a great source of information.

Artie Clark

Hello Artie, welcome aboard, it is nice to have you as a member!

We have been in constant contact with the DGAC since the beginning of the year on this topic and have sent several different sets of analysis as well as copies of regulations from other countries. The Director of technical affairs for Mexico's DGAC has been out the last two weeks and I have left several messages with his assistant asking that he call with an update. He is expected back in the office next Tuesday and I will continue calling to find out what they plan to do. Whatever happens, we will alert the members through this post as well as a mass email.

Thank you, Rick! Have a great weekend, I'll try to give you a call next week sometime and catch up.

We were contacted today by the Adjunct Director General of Aviation of Mexico's DGAC to advise us that they are going to extend the deadline for 406 MHz ELT's another 24 months. The current extension is due to expire June 30, 2013. With this additional extension, the deadline is now pushed back to June 30, 2015.

We have been working for many years with the DGAC as well as FEMPPA (The Mexican Federation of Pilots and Aircraft Owners) to provide data and our own analysis to justify why private aircraft should be exempted. (In addition to being the AOPA representative in Mexico, we are also the official FEMPPA representative in the state of Puebla, Mexico). We have also received a lot of support over the years from Kevin Psutka of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) with information, strategy and advice on COPA's initiatives in Canada on this topic.

What is different about this latest extension is that the regulations themselves are being changed. In the past, this had been handled as a unilateral notice from the Director General of the DGAC. Due to this, the official announcement will come by way of the Mexican Federal Register later this month after it works its way through the legal process. However, The Adjunct Director General has told us that we can proceed to make an announcement to the General Aviation Community so that pilots will know that they will still be free to travel to Mexico with their current 121.5 MHz ELT's.

This latest extension has been the result of a lot of hard work, follow-up, emails and telephone calls by ourselves, FEMPPA and the DGAC over the last 6 months and we are happy to see that steps continue to be taken to facilitate the arrival of General Aviation aircraft to Mexico.

Great News! Is the actual extension posted in the documents section?

Thanks!

Hi Artie, not yet. As soon as we have it we will put it up on the Procedures and Forms page of the CST Member Website.

Thanks, Rick! We'll keep an eye out for it.

The changes to the Mexican Aeronautical regulations that cover the requirements for a 406 MHz ELT on aircraft flying to and within Mexico have finally been published in the Mexican Federal Register. We have read the changes to regulation NOM-012-SCT3-2012 and found that it contains a couple of surprises.

The changes do indeed extend the deadline for requiring 406 MHz ELT's until June 30, 2015 as previously reported. However, the extension ONLY applies to piston aircraft with a MTOW of 12,500 lbs or less. As the rules are written, turbo-prop and turbine aircraft as well as larger piston aircraft are not excluded. This twist was not expected so we will have to explore what drove it.

The relevant text is as follows:

5.2.11.7. No obstante lo requerido en el numeral 5.2.11.6., anterior, todos los operadores aéreos indicados
en ese numeral, con aeronaves con un peso máximo certificado menor de 5 700 kg y motores recíprocos,
deben instalar un ELT que transmita en las frecuencias de 406 MHz y 121.5 MHz simultáneamente, en un
plazo no mayor al 30 de junio de 2015, tomando en cuenta que esta última frecuencia es únicamente de forma
auxiliar.

Separately, helicopters operating over water are required to not only have a 406 MHz ELT but also a portable 406 MHz ELT attached to either a life jacket or life raft. The pertinent text here is:

5.3.8.1. Todas las aeronaves de ala rotativa que operen en Clase de performance 1 y 2 a cargo de concesionarios, permisionarios y operadores aéreos, deben estar equipadas con un ELT automático; y cuando realicen vuelos sobre el agua según lo establecido en el inciso a) del numeral 5.3.11., de esta norma, deben llevar un ELT automático y un ELT portátil automático en una balsa o chaleco salvavidas.
5.3.8.2. Todas las aeronaves de ala rotativa que operen en Clase de performance 3 a cargo de concesionarios, permisionarios y operadores aéreos, deben estar equipadas con un ELT automático; y cuando realicen vuelos sobre el agua según lo establecido en el inciso b) del numeral 5.3.11., de esta norma, deben llevar un ELT automático y un ELT portátil automático en una balsa o chaleco salvavidas.

No further extensions?