Airport Recommendation St. Petersburg, FL?

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Darryl Snover

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Planning my first truly long flight in my Cherokee, from Northeast Pennsylvania to Tampa/St Petersburg area. Does anyone have any recommendations for GA friendly airports in that area? I’ll be staying for about a week, possibly two. It’s not that I’m cheap, but if there’s reasonable parking fees, etc, that be a good thing.
 
Where will you be staying? You have Albert Whitted (SPG) there in downtown St Pete, Peter O’Knight (TPF) basically downtown Tampa, Tampa Exec (VDF) where I’m based to the East, and finally Clearwater Airpark (CLW) to the west. They are all good so really my recommendation is to pick the closet one to where you’ll be. Unfortunately I don’t know what their fees are at any of them, although I suspect Clearwater is most likely the cheapest.
 
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We just got back from there. We were visiting my wife's sister and BIL. They are staying at a condo in St Pete Beach.

We flew into SPG - Albert Whitted. Great airport, great people at the FBO. A very nice restaurant, The Hangar, above the FBO. We had breakfast there this morning before departing.



Wayne
 
SPG is great for St. Pete. It's right next door to the Dali Museum and lots of other attractions. Great little airport. I've used it to visit my sister in Tampa.
 
Clarification on my endpoint: Tampa, just north of the downtown area. Looks to me that besides Tampa International (can't imagine THAT being GA friendly), there's Tampa Exec (VDF) and KTPF nearby. On the other hand, planning on renting a car, and perhaps spending time at St Pete Beach, so Whitted looks good too.
 
Personally, I'd probably do VDF in that situation, but Whitted and CLW would also work well. I don't know parking fees at any of them, sorry. If I had to guess, I'd say CLW would be cheapest.
 
Darryl Snover said:
Looks to me that besides Tampa International (can't imagine THAT being GA friendly), there's ...
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I wouldn't recommend it for a one to two week stop, but for a short stop it's fine. We flew there several years ago to go to a college football bowl game at the Buccaneers stadium next to the airport. Only real challenge was being left high and fast on the approach by Approach; and LOTS of vectors. Otherwise it was fine.
 
We did four nights at SPG a few years ago for spring training and Grand Prix racing. As stated, great place and great FBO.

Darryl Snover said:
Looks to me that besides Tampa International (can't imagine THAT being GA friendly) . . .
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Actually, the opposite in my experience.

Many years ago the boss lent me a traffic plane to go down there for an NFL playoff game. My young kids were troopers, got up early and entertained themselves in the back for seven hours as Mom was working that weekend. We landed about an hour before kickoff, pulled right up under the jet canopy, and the FBO drove us around the perimeter fence to a gate where we could walk to Raymond James Stadium. It was awesome, and our team won! FBO picked us up at the same gate after the game, and had arranged a nice hotel at a good price, which they also drove us to.

We flew home the next day. One of my better GA adventures.
 
I had the opportunity to visit KSPG (Albert Whitted) last week, as I ended up in St Petersburg for business. Walked to the terminal, had lunch at the restaurant there (The Hangar). Good food, super nice people.

Spoke with the woman at the FBO counter, got the skinny on fees: 12 dollar landing fee, waived with 5 gallon purchase. Overnight outside parking is $9 per night. Very reasonable. Fuel was $5.69/gal, which is more than a buck cheaper than the Tampa airports.

The downtown St Petersburg area is a short walk, with decent hotels, and many bars and restaurants of varying price (and quality) to meet any preference.

Nice place to visit, and I’m inclined to fly to KSPG, but will also check out the other Tampa airports. Didn’t have the chance to visit any of them this time, though.
 
Darryl Snover said:
I had the opportunity to visit KSPG (Albert Whitted) last week, as I ended up in St Petersburg for business. Walked to the terminal, had lunch at the restaurant there (The Hangar). Good food, super nice people.

Spoke with the woman at the FBO counter, got the skinny on fees: 12 dollar landing fee, waived with 5 gallon purchase. Overnight outside parking is $9 per night. Very reasonable. Fuel was $5.69/gal, which is more than a buck cheaper than the Tampa airports.

The downtown St Petersburg area is a short walk, with decent hotels, and many bars and restaurants of varying price (and quality) to meet any preference.

Nice place to visit, and I’m inclined to fly to KSPG, but will also check out the other Tampa airports. Didn’t have the chance to visit any of them this time, though.
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Just remember to tack on your drive time from SPG to wherever your destination in Tampa is. Depending on time of day it could be an hour or so easy. But if you going to stay in St Pete, it’s probably the best of the bunch for the reasons you mentioned. Neither TPF nor VDF have anything around them within walking distance, although TPF is close to restaurants and hotels and downtown Tampa, like a few minutes by Uber close.
 
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I haven't been to the others around Tampa/St. Pete, but I have been to hundreds of others around the country. Albert Whitted is my favorite airport in the country. We go there often whether it is for lunch at the airport or at one of the Restaurants within walking distance, or for several nights stay at the Renaissance Vinoy. We never rent a car there because there is so much within walking distance, plus the fact that parking can be exasperating at times.
 
JOhnH said:
Yeah, there is that. Another reason to visit before that happens, but I can't imagine it could possibly be closed within a decade or two. Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I hope not.
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I agree, it won’t be Meigs Field part Deux, but it irritates me nevertheless.
 
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