Flying in Guatemala

[jefff]

Hi
I am now a proud owner of a Mavic Mini. Following on from my Phantom 4 and Mavic Pro. I am travelling to Guatemala and Belize in January, can anyone give me some benefit of their recent flying in Guatemala? although I understand drones are not permitted in Belize.

 

[Ramacher]

Hi
I am now a proud owner of a Mavic Mini. Following on from my Phantom 4 and Mavic Pro. I am travelling to Guatemala and Belize in January, can anyone give me some benefit of their recent flying in Guatemala? although I understand drones are not permitted in Belize.

I'm flying to Belize soon as well as part of a multi-country 3 week trip. My friend who was there a few months ago says if they find it at customs you have to leave it with them. Customs will hold onto it and you can retrieve it from them when you're departing the country. I'm not too worried about that, I'll abide by their laws, but I'm worried about how long that process takes because I only have 1 hour from landing to the next island hopper flight.

 

[jefff]

Thanks that's very useful. However I am crossing into Belize (from Guatemala) by road, taking one internal flight but then leaving Belize by boat so it won't be the same location I came into the country. Could be tricky, I think I will have to leave the MM in Guatemala.

 

[Ramacher]

Thanks that's very useful. However I am crossing into Belize (from Guatemala) by road, taking one internal flight but then leaving Belize by boat so it won't be the same location I came into the country. Could be tricky, I think I will have to leave the MM in Guatemala.

I'm in Belize now and had no issues at customs. I didn't declare it and had no check in luggage. Security/customer was a breeze. Didn't take more then 5 minutes from deplaning to being outside of the airport.

Then I had to go through security again to get on island hopper flight. They put my bag through the X-ray machine and didn't say anything. Didn't even look like security was looking at the screen.

That being said, I was talking to the people at the resort I'm staying at and they said if you get a local business to write you a letter saying they've hired you to do some filming, you can bring it in. There's more to it where you have to go into town to the aviation authority and pay a registration fee and do some paperwork.

But overall I think you'll be good because resort people said a lot of guests bring drones with no issue.

 

[jefff]

Thank you very much that is very encouraging.
If you learn anything else I would be very grateful to hear.

 

[Ramacher]

Just got back from my vacation and even though I damaged the remote (ran into the ocean to stop the mini from landing into the water) I had no issues with customs through my travels. I went to belize, took the sea taxi from belize to Chetumal, Mexico. Bag didn't even go through X-Ray, just drug dogs and manual look into my bags. Then flew out of Cancun, Mexico and into Medellin, Colombia. Again, they didn't say anything as bag went through the x-ray machine. Had a connection through guatemala on my return to the US where again bag went through x-ray machine with no issues, but it was for a connecting flight so I didn't go through guatemala customs.

 

[jefff]

Many thanks for the update. Yes I was in Columbia in Jan 18. I also had no problem with my Mavic Pro in either flying or or with customs. Jan 19 I was in Bolivia and Chile - no problems there either.
What were the circumstances of your MM trying to land on water?

 

[Ramacher]

Many thanks for the update. Yes I was in Columbia in Jan 18. I also had no problem with my Mavic Pro in either flying or or with customs. Jan 19 I was in Bolivia and Chile - no problems there either.
What were the circumstances of your MM trying to land on water?

100% my fault. Was flying in an "Authorization Zone" on the 28th (before the firmware update with the unlock came out). I was standing on a dock and sent it out, it gave me the 99s countdown before it would auto land, I flew around a little more and started bringing it back in. Then it started the auto-landing and noticed it wasn't going to make it back to the dock. I panicked and jumped in the water (it was only about knee high) and stupid me kept the remote controller in my hand holding the elevator up stick as if it would do anything. I sprinted out to it grabbed it before it was going to land in the water. Walked back to the dock and noticed I had gotten the remote controller wet and it wouldn't turn off. I didn't have any tools to open up the remote so it sat all night with the LED blinking. Next day I went to a hardware store and bought tools and electronic contact cleaner. Opened it up and cleaned everything off. Put it back together and now it just constantly beeps and the phone/DJI Fly app doesn't detect the remote. I tried re-pairing the remote to the mini and that didn't work. I was able to downgrade and update the firmware a few times via PC and that didn't help. I tried to update the remote to .0400 firmware yesterday and it just kept failing. The remote isn't covered by the DJI Care Refresh so I just bought a new one off ebay for $75+ shipping.

 

[1212121]

Hi
I am now a proud owner of a Mavic Mini. Following on from my Phantom 4 and Mavic Pro. I am travelling to Guatemala and Belize in January, can anyone give me some benefit of their recent flying in Guatemala? although I understand drones are not permitted in Belize.

How did your trip to Guatemala go? I am traveling to Guatemala in March with a Mavic Mini for an Engineers Without Borders project. Did you get a permit for passage in Guatemala through customs? I do not want my drone confiscated by customs.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

How did your trip to Guatemala go? I am traveling to Guatemala in March with a Mavic Mini for an Engineers Without Borders project. Did you get a permit for passage in Guatemala through customs? I do not want my drone confiscated by customs.

Tag the OP, he might get a tag notification if the thread notification option is turned off . . . tag > @jefff

 

[1212121]

@jefff
How did your trip to Guatemala go? I am traveling to Guatemala in March with a Mavic Mini for an Engineers Without Borders project. Did you get a permit for passage in Guatemala through customs? I do not want my drone confiscated by customs.

 

[jefff]

@jefff
How did your trip to Guatemala go? I am traveling to Guatemala in March with a Mavic Mini for an Engineers Without Borders project. Did you get a permit for passage in Guatemala through customs? I do not want my drone confiscated by customs.

Hi, No problem in Guatemala, travelled via Bogata to Guatemala City with MM in my back pack which went through security and customs no problem - they didn't even ask to see MM. Also travelled by internal flight to Flores (TAG Airlines) no problems either end. Flew MM several times in Guatemala with no issues. Currently as far as I am aware Guatemala has no drone regulations. Have a good trip let me know how you get on.