FBO recommendations for Sacramento?

[MAKG1]

I'm taking the family to Cal Expo in a few weekends. I'd like to fly there; it's a looonnnnggg annoying drive in heavy tourist traffic. Probably quite early to deal with heat. We'll need a rental car, but probably not fuel. We will be arriving on a Sunday, which will certainly complicate the rental car.

I'll either come in a Warrior from PAO or a 182 from WVI.

SAC looks closest to the Expo, but I'm not particularly married to that field. MCC and MHR are not too far.

I'll need to park overnight. I'll be there quite late and would rather not fly the family back at night in summer. It's well past the kid's bedtime.

I'd be grateful for recommendations for FBO, rental cars, and even a decent (cheap) hotel. Anything that doesn't have rats or hourly rates or gun battles outside the front door. Thanks!

 

[Goofy]

The folks at McClellan are wonderful. I'd avoid Executive. Was based there for a few months and they were awful, fuel was ridiculous.

 

[John221us]

The folks at McClellan are wonderful. I'd avoid Executive. Was based there for a few months and they were awful, fuel was ridiculous.

You can get it done at exec. There is transient and you don't have to actually deal with an FBO if you don't want to. MCC is quiter with no tower. They are actually a client of mine, but I have never rented a car there. It is a full service FBO, though. I am out of Lincoln (no real FBO there but I think there are some rental car companies that will pick you up). I can give you a ride somewhere from Lincoln if it is a weekend I am around (I am about 10 minutes from the field).

 

[comanchepilot]

It was cheaper for me when I did SAC to go into SMF. It was actually overall less expensive when you added in fuel, waived ramp fees, weekend fuel discounts and easy and cheaper car rentals. If you are going to get a car, it makes SMF much easier given it is further away it actually takes less time to get to Cal Expo from SMF.

Plus, decent hotel rooms are much less expensive at SMF on Sunday night than the fleabags near Mather or the ones near SAC.

YMMV - and if you are not comfortable operating at a CLass C then perhaps thats a deal breaker - but my overall costs were less at SMF. 100LL is almost 40 cents cheaper at SMF than SAC too. . . .

 

[John221us]

It was cheaper for me when I did SAC to go into SMF. It was actually overall less expensive when you added in fuel, waived ramp fees, weekend fuel discounts and easy and cheaper car rentals. If you are going to get a car, it makes SMF much easier given it is further away it actually takes less time to get to Cal Expo from SMF.

Plus, decent hotel rooms are much less expensive at SMF on Sunday night than the fleabags near Mather or the ones near SAC.

YMMV - and if you are not comfortable operating at a CLass C then perhaps thats a deal breaker - but my overall costs were less at SMF. 100LL is almost 40 cents cheaper at SMF than SAC too. . . .

There are decent hotels near Cal Expo. Hilton, for one and Red Lion for another. MCC would definitely be closer than SMF to Cal Expo and so would SAC Exec. The one FBO at SMF has a $25 landing fee that can be waived with fuel, but it is expensive fuel, plus over night fee. Atlantic is at Mather, but they might be a little more expensive (they did not charge me a landing fee when picking up PAX, though). I would probably do MCC. MCC has pretty reasonable fuel, as well.

 

[MAKG1]

Thanks guys. I don't really need fuel, as I can carry much more than I need for a round trip in either aircraft. The 182 holds 75 usable gallons and can probably get me to Utah....and WVI has cheap fuel, so the differential is likely to offset waived fees. Class C doesn't scare me at all. I've landings at SJC, OAK, MRY, and FAT. But is it really cheaper without fuel?

The hotels near the Expo sound nice, especially for a late-night crash.

Transient parking will work. That just leaves the rental car. Is anything open Sunday morning aside from SMF?

 

[John221us]

Thanks guys. I don't really need fuel, as I can carry much more than I need for a round trip in either aircraft. The 182 holds 75 usable gallons and can probably get me to Utah....and WVI has cheap fuel, so the differential is likely to offset waived fees. Class C doesn't scare me at all. I've landings at SJC, OAK, MRY, and FAT. But is it really cheaper without fuel?

The hotels near the Expo sound nice, especially for a late-night crash.

Transient parking will work. That just leaves the rental car. Is anything open Sunday morning aside from SMF?

MCC is 24x7. If you use them, you should probably buy some fuel (just how the system works). I rent cars from Nice Air at RHV all the time and one time, when their guy didn't top it when I told them too, they politely asked me to buy some fuel next time (that is how they make their money).


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[Sac Arrow]

The Jet Center at KSAC will hook you up with a rental no problem, 24x7. Personally I would use KSAC since it's fairly close to downtown, where all the great restaurants are. No brainer for me.

 

[ryoung99]

My suggestion would be to download the app relayrides and find a car on that site for the time you are going to be in town. It free's you up from having to worry about landing where the rental car companies are located.

I think most of the Sacramento area strips are a bit of a pain, and you would be better off to come in and out of Lincoln, Auburn or Placerville. All three are in nice communities outside of Sacramento. While it would be a bit of a drive to CalExpo, the drive would be easy with minimal to no traffic. In all honesty Sac Exec, Mather and McClelland while secure are not in the best neighborhoods, with the best accomodations. When you get east of Sacramento the area's and the airports get nicer (in my opinion).

You could also try Davis, there are quite a few cars from that town on Relay Rides as well. Davis would be a nice place to stay with the family and the airport is quiet (as is Placerville).

Good luck, when are you coming? Heck we have a few cars if you came into Placerville I might be able to lend you my Jeep for a day or so.

Rick

 

[Sac Arrow]

Holy crap that would be a long drive. No thanks.

 

[MAKG1]

The Jet Center at KSAC will hook you up with a rental no problem, 24x7. Personally I would use KSAC since it's fairly close to downtown, where all the great restaurants are. No brainer for me.

I was wondering what your perspective was on this. I'll give them a call. Their website is, to say the least, lacking.

Rick, that's extremely generous, and I'm truly grateful for the offer. But I'm trying to avoid a long drive. Placerville is a (really) nice place, but it's not where we're headed. One of these days, I'll take the kid to Coloma; he's just old enough to appreciate what happened there.

 

[MAKG1]

The trip took place Sunday. Had to take the Cardinal because the club topped off the fuel on the 172SP, which would have overloaded it (dang, those are chunky aircraft). We could have taken a 172N if one was available for two days.

I called Sac Jet Center right before takeoff to change the tail number.

Had some close opposing traffic enroute. The planned course was 002, so even at a correct VFR altitude of 3500, there was nearly exactly opposing traffic. It can really be hard to spot. I was doing 130 KIAS in the Cardinal, and RIGHT before descent, NorCal came in with an advisory to climb 500 feet immediately. I crammed the throttle and prop (and mixture a few turns) and pitched the nose up to Vx attitude, then opened the cowl flaps. I let the aircraft lose 40 knots, but I got up that 500 feet FAST. Then a Mooney blasted by below, in the opposite direction.

I called Sac Jet Center over unicom on the ground, and they had a line guy out guiding me in on the ramp. It would have been pretty hard to find otherwise, as there are multiple buildings around the field that say "Sacramento Jet Center" on the side. There was a minor SNAFU over the rental car because it was still listed under the old tail number, but it was sorted out by the time the paperwork was done. They delivered it right outside the FBO door on the ramp side, spitting distance from where I'd parked the aircraft. Even though Enterprise was closed on Sunday. I left instructions to put 5 gal in each tank (concerned a bit about density altitude -- it's hot in the afternoons), which they did right away.

Had a nice trip to the Expo. Stumbled on a truly amazing hamburger joint -- Burgess Bros., across Sutterville Rd. from Sac City College -- it's a bit far for a $100 hamburger trip, but easily accessed with a crew car. It's a really good sign when a burger joint has a smoker sitting out front....

The return was uneventful except for some trouble with engine start -- always a problem with this particular aircraft. This time, the fuel flow didn't indicate at all with the boost pump on and mixture rich (vapor lock? it was hot). So, I flooded the CRAP out of it. A flooded start didn't quite work before I wound down the battery. The FBO hooked up ground power (thankfully, this aircraft is equipped with a ground power outlet), and a couple more cranks got it started. Then the fuel flow gauge started indicating normally. I practiced some hot starts back at PAO, as this aircraft always seems to give me trouble. Those went a lot better.

In a nutshell, Sac Arrow's suggestion was right on. The FBO treated me well, and the facility is really nice. Big briefing room with two computers and a big chart on a table, really comfy sofas, big screen TV, free bottled water, even a couple of bunk beds, presumably for when you get trapped by weather. Crew cars, rental cars, a few munchies, helpful staff. And the $20 ramp fee was waived with 10 gallons or a top-off, whichever was less. Fuel cost was within a few cents of PAO's, full service, which is good news for a wet renter like me.