PIREP of KELP - El Paso

Nick Geber

Nick Geber

Pre-takeoff checklist
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NIckG
Any PIREPS for El Paso? Thinking about flying back to Vegas from Conroe with a stop in El Paso as opposed to Roswell. Any thoughts?
 
Prefer Roswell for fuel price, ease getting in/out, but have had no strong feelings other than I’m rarely in need of Million Air or Atlantic high end services.
 
Atlantic at ELP is fabulous. They should have courtesy cars to get some great Mexican food nearby.
 
We stop at ELP semi-regularly and I like the town. Either FBO has nice amenities and has decent people. A lot of times you can get a golf cart ride to go see the NASA Super Guppy, too.

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If fuel prices are an issue and you aren't staying overnight, Dona Ana should be on your radar.

AirNav: KDNA - Dona Ana County International Jetport Airport

Complete aeronautical information about Dona Ana County International Jetport Airport (Santa Teresa, NM, USA), including location, runways, taxiways, navaids, radio frequencies, FBO information, fuel prices, sunrise and sunset times, aerial photo, airport diagram.
www.airnav.com

If you have a little time, go to the War Eagles Museum if you want to see some interesting things like a Soviet WWII aircraft.

www.wareaglesairmuseum.com

Home

www.wareaglesairmuseum.com www.wareaglesairmuseum.com
 
Maybe it's just my weird sense of silly, but KELP in the desert?

There is a fictional TV station, KELP, in Seattle. Now that makes sense.
 
ELP is a nice airport, but I have only been there flying jets on someone else’s dime. Million Air is on point.

Plenty of airspace around, be sure and look closely at the sectional when flight planning.
 
texasclouds said:
ELP is a nice airport, but I have only been there flying jets on someone else’s dime. Million Air is on point.

Plenty of airspace around, be sure and look closely at the sectional when flight planning.
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Will do but will be in and out IFR
 
I like KELP a lot.
The only thing that was inconvenient is that when landing winds strongly favored RWY 22 but they were only using that for commercial/jet traffic. They asked me to take 26R. I didn't fuss over it, but it was a much stronger XW. Oh well. Still plenty big.

Also, Atlantic FBO specifically was excellent. I showed up without any notice and they took care of my accommodations. They even negotiated directly with Hertz for me to get my Priceline rental fee down by 66% during a high demand ($$$) time. I don't mind spending a few extra bucks on gas for that kinda service. Plus it was an inexpensive town to visit and stay overnight. Add in the fact that I got fantastic Mexican food while I was there and I have nothing bad to say about El Paso.

Roswell is decent too. HUGE runways. Fun if you want to see the alien themed town. The FBO is meh. Not a standout. Car rental is super convenient if you're staying overnight, terminal is right by the fbo (and was super, super, dirt cheap when I was there). A little car ride out to Ruidoso or Capitan area will also treat you to nice mountain scenery.
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ArrowFlyer86 said:
Yessir! It's an amazing view they have there. Stumbled on it by accident while cruising through the mountains area. Had to get (a lot) of pictures :)
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I used to fly some folks to SRR so they could race their horse at Ruidoso Downs. Flew in there 15-20 times. Always fun dealing with summer PM t-storms over El Capitan.

I wanna take my C170 there one day.
 
Domenick said:
Maybe it's just my weird sense of silly, but KELP in the desert?

There is a fictional TV station, KELP, in Seattle. Now that makes sense.
Click to expand...
It was just ELP until they added the K in front of all of our airports for international purposes. ELP is exceedingly obvious for EL Paso.
 
KELP has got to be a lot nicer than KSVC Grant County NM.

When I stopped at KSVC in 2018, flying from Texas to Southern California, it was a desolate spot that barely qualified as a fuel stop. It was kinda interesting, though, to see amongst the weeds, near the 100LL pump, another pump labeled “Deisel”
 
Nick Geber said:
Any PIREPS for El Paso? Thinking about flying back to Vegas from Conroe with a stop in El Paso as opposed to Roswell. Any thoughts?
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If you need food, then KELP. KLRU (Las Cruces) has the cheapest fuel (not published) at $5.50 a gallon for 100LL at the south end of the field, self serve at Frost Aviation (they're relatively new and are pumping fuel at break even - they have a flight school there that is really taking off no - pun intended). KLRU has an on airport cafe, but closed on Sunday.

RyanShort1 said:
If fuel prices are an issue and you aren't staying overnight, Dona Ana should be on your radar.

AirNav: KDNA - Dona Ana County International Jetport Airport

Complete aeronautical information about Dona Ana County International Jetport Airport (Santa Teresa, NM, USA), including location, runways, taxiways, navaids, radio frequencies, FBO information, fuel prices, sunrise and sunset times, aerial photo, airport diagram.
www.airnav.com

If you have a little time, go to the War Eagles Museum if you want to see some interesting things like a Soviet WWII aircraft.

www.wareaglesairmuseum.com

Home

www.wareaglesairmuseum.com www.wareaglesairmuseum.com
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KDNA my field. Fuel is pricey. Runway is closed, and we're using the taxiway as a runway again (3rd time in just a few years). Guess we're soon to be a Class D with a longer-wider runway for FedEX/UPS/DHL :(
 
I’ve transited the area a bunch, going from Austin to CA/AZ. If just passing through, I agree KLRU is the best option for fuel (and there’s a new flight school on the east end with cheap gas and a friendly staff). Not convenient to restaurants, etc. though. If overnighting, downtown El Paso is surprisingly nice. We drove to AZ last Christmas and overnighted there. Their holiday decorations and events were really pleasant. Anson11 was an especially nice restaurant.

The mountains ALWAYS make for some fun in the area and taking off from KLRU on a summer afternoon provides a good lesson in density altitude.
 
Llewtrah381 said:
I’ve transited the area a bunch, going from Austin to CA/AZ. If just passing through, I agree KLRU is the best option for fuel (and there’s a new flight school on the east end with cheap gas and a friendly staff). Not convenient to restaurants, etc. though. If overnighting, downtown El Paso is surprisingly nice. We drove to AZ last Christmas and overnighted there. Their holiday decorations and events were really pleasant. Anson11 was an especially nice restaurant.

The mountains ALWAYS make for some fun in the area and taking off from KLRU on a summer afternoon provides a good lesson in density altitude.
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Do they still line the roads up in the mountains with sandbag lanterns at Christmas?
 
Salty said:
Do they still line the roads up in the mountains with sandbag lanterns at Christmas?
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Didn't see that but we weren't out of the downtown area at night. Sounds like it would be cool to see.
 
Salty said:
Do they still line the roads up in the mountains with sandbag lanterns at Christmas?
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Yes, they're called luminarias ... some are electric instead of sand in a bag with a candle. Road your probably saw was Scenic drive which is just below the "Star" on the mountain. The huge star is now LED and can change colors whenever they want ...
 
danhagan said:
Yes, they're called luminarias ... some are electric instead of sand in a bag with a candle. Road your probably saw was Scenic drive which is just below the "Star" on the mountain.
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Yep. Lived there for almost a decade and we always drove up there every Christmas.

danhagan said:
The huge star is now LED and can change colors whenever they want ...
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I was there during the Iran hostage crisis and I remember they let the star stay lit until the hostages were released.
 
In New Mexico they are referred to as farolitos(lanterns) versus luminarias(bonfire). Almost as controversial as red or green chili.
 
Salty said:
Yep. Lived there for almost a decade and we always drove up there every Christmas.


I was there during the Iran hostage crisis and I remember they let the star stay lit until the hostages were released.
Click to expand...

It's on all the time now. Can see it from 50-75 miles from the air on a clear night coming from the east ...
 
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