Flying to Northern California

iamtheari

iamtheari

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Ari
I am thinking about a February (hey, it's not like it'll be colder than ND that time of year) trip to the San Francisco Bay area for about a week. At least some of the festivities would be in San Jose and I have family in San Mateo. We can only burn 100LL avgas and we can buy as little of it as necessary to get handling/parking/landing fee waivers. IFR and we have deice equipment but not FIKI. Arrival would probably be from the Northeast, maybe the East. What airports should we consider and which should we avoid?
 
Weren't you just in California a few threads ago? Hopefully this one will be as epic. As I recall, the write-up on that one set the bar pretty high. ;)
 
asicer said:
Weren't you just in California a few threads ago? Hopefully this one will be as epic. As I recall, the write-up on that one set the bar pretty high. ;)
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Thanks. This time, there will be fewer movies but more dogs!
 
In this area, the only airports you would need to avoid due to the 100LL issue would be RHV and E16.
 
SQL or PAO if you want proximity. HWD if you want to crash in our guest room or borrow my hateful Subaru or just avoid peninsula crowd and crazy. Get gas out east at O22 or O27 or any of the other $5.xx airports.

WVI or LVK if you want a good restaurant on-field. APC if you want to tell your people "nuts to you" and drink wine on the train instead of socialize. :D

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
^^^ I second this guy. San Carlos (SQL) is right next to San Mateo. Palo Alto (PAO) is a really nice little airport close enough to San Jose. But be prepared with an airport diagram for taxi and become familiar with the phrases, "Terminal side" and "Hanger side". (I always tell people that PAO is a little airport that will give you a feel for what it's like to taxi in a Bravo airport.)

I don't know if 100LL is available at Reid Hillview (RHV) these days so you may consider avoiding. Too bad because it's right in San Jose and can use the business and is also a decent airport.

Watsonville (WVI) is a bit far... maybe.
 
KWVI is fine if you like long drives in bumper-to-bumper traffic. During the morning and afternoon commutes (7:00-9:00 AM and 2:30-7:00 PM), it can take 45 minutes or more just to go the 14 miles from Watsonville airport to Santa Cruz. If Hwy 17 to San Jose has a crash - which is common, especially if it’s raining - it could be a total of a couple hours to get there from WVI.

Quicker to take 129 or 152 to 101, but 101 can be really bad, too.
 
I wasn't suggesting WVI as a base, nor LVK. I was suggesting Ari might want to take these friends he's visiting out for a $100 hamburger.
 
noahfong said:
I don't know if 100LL is available at Reid Hillview (RHV) these days so you may consider avoiding.
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It's not; RHV has UL94 only, per County edict. Same for the other county-operated airport, San Martin (E16).
 
schmookeeg said:
I wasn't suggesting WVI as a base, nor LVK. I was suggesting Ari might want to take these friends he's visiting out for a $100 hamburger.
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Then those are good suggestions. Sorry I misunderstood.
 
schmookeeg said:
I wasn't suggesting WVI as a base, nor LVK. I was suggesting Ari might want to take these friends he's visiting out for a $100 hamburger.
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I'll be in the 310, so it's a $200 double cheeseburger. :)

I'll look at all the airports suggested above. I understand where they're going with the unleaded fuel push, so maybe in the future I'll fly into KRHV and buy some G100UL or whatever actually gets onto the market for my plane, but if we make this trip we'll have to plan to at least gas up somewhere else, and probably just fly into the somewhere else altogether.
 
iamtheari said:
I'll be in the 310, so it's a $200 double cheeseburger. :)

I'll look at all the airports suggested above. I understand where they're going with the unleaded fuel push, so maybe in the future I'll fly into KRHV and buy some G100UL or whatever actually gets onto the market for my plane, but if we make this trip we'll have to plan to at least gas up somewhere else, and probably just fly into the somewhere else altogether.
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Hayward (HWD) has 100LL from the trucks AND G100UL as an option at the self-serve pump. But not suggesting it will make for a practical fuel stop. :)
 
KPAO is probably the friendliest of the NorCal fields. Nicely between San Jose and San Mateo. 100LL self-serve or truck. Reasonable transient fees and usually a taxi-in spot is available, which is nice with a 310. On field mx if needed.

WVI has a nice on field restaurant. KHAF has a parking area all the way at the south end with steps adjacent that let you walk into a piece of half moon bay with numerous restaurants and to the beach if desired.
 
for instrument rated pilots, HMB is hard to beat. Several airports (sql, oak, gnoss, HMB) are all roughly a 30” drive to downtown San Francisco- with no traffic. But the shortest drive time consistently? HMB. It’s friendly, good on field restaurant. Transient parking is plentiful and cheap. Short walk to many others. Scenic. Can camp on field.
But the marine layer can come in quickly.
 
You mean KHAF? Good restaurant on field and walk to town ones.

But it was sited, like some coastal fields in WWII, for the fog!
 
Yes, KHAF. Sorry, it always seems as if the identifier should be HMB
 
noahfong said:
^^^ I second this guy. San Carlos (SQL) is right next to San Mateo. Palo Alto (PAO) is a really nice little airport close enough to San Jose. But be prepared with an airport diagram for taxi and become familiar with the phrases, "Terminal side" and "Hanger side". (I always tell people that PAO is a little airport that will give you a feel for what it's like to taxi in a Bravo airport.)

I don't know if 100LL is available at Reid Hillview (RHV) these days so you may consider avoiding. Too bad because it's right in San Jose and can use the business and is also a decent airport.

Watsonville (WVI) is a bit far... maybe.
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No 100LL at RHV
 
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