I'm not sure about the Mexican rules or even Customs duties
on bringing the repaired airplane back. But a visit to the
FSDO by the A&P before he came to Mexico, with the proper
details would have resulted in a quick issuance of a Special
Airworthiness Certificate [ferry permit] and the A&P would
make such repairs as needed before signing the logbook and
the certificate to make the flight legal. You would also
want to contact your insurance company because most aircraft
insurance policies are restricted to "when a valid standard
airworthiness certificate" is on the airplane. A ferry
permit is not a standard airworthiness certificate and your
insurance is not in force. That would be a violation of
Mexican law.
Also, not informing your insurance company makes it
difficult or impossible to recover damages from the truck
driver.

Since the airplane was US registered and the work was done
by a US A&P, the FAA would have issued the permit within a
hour. But Mexican labor law might have also required that
you hire a Mexican mechanic to supervise.

I hope you flew it back solo and sent the family by airline
or bus.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
| A ferry permit could be issued for such a
| condition and an inspection for range of motion,
security,
| etc signed of by an A mechanic and of course it would be
| finally up to the pilot whether to fly. I would not
want to
| fly it IFR, most ferry permits only allow Day/VFR.
|
| One of the reasons I didn't want to try for the permit is
because I
| just don't know what the procedure would have been, but I
expect it
| would have taken months. The initial inspection would have
had to have
| been done by an A&E and then approved by Mexico City.
However, then
| comes the custom's duties, etc. Finally, I'd need an A&P
to look at it
| before I entered the U.S. (or right after entering, I
don't recall).
| So I kept very, very quiet about it. I didn't tell the
Mexicans about
| it and didn't mention anything to U.S. customs.I believe
that
| technically both the A&P and I could have both been
arrested since I
| believe it is totally illegal for an A&P to do any major
repair without
| an A&E present.
|
| I guess I got lucky that the guy who hit me had a sat
phone on him.
| Otherwise I would have been faced with the decision.
Either fly it out
| of there as-is or abandon the plane there.
|