Need tie-down space / recommendation

Morning all,

Marci and I are planning on travelling to a wedding in Pico Rivera (and the reception is in Garden grove) on the afternoon of 5th July and staying for the weekend.

So we need a safe place to tie down, cheap fuel, inxpensive (but safe) accomodation and I think we'll probably need a car. Oh, and to meet a few RV'ers would be nice.

Never been down that way and intend to file IFR even if its clear blue sky to avoid airspace headaches.

Anyone have any suggestions.

Thanks in advance

Frank 7a (corvallis Oregon)

The closest airport to Pico Rivera is El Monte or Fullerton. The closest airport to Garden Grove is probably Fullerton, or possibly Long Beach or John Wayne. John Wayne is very busy with jet traffic, but does have a GA runway. Fuel will be expensive at John Wayne. Long Beach also has a fair amount of jet traffic, but isn't as busy as John Wayne. El Monte and Fullerton are typical GA-friendly tower-controlled airports. Fullerton is the most centrally located if you have to go to Pico Rivera and Garden Grove.

Most RVers are based at Cable or Chino. Neither of these airports is particularly close to Pico Rivera or Garden Grove, but if you have a car, you can always drive to any spot in the LA basin. If you come to Cable on a Saturday, you're welcome to have lunch with our EAA chapter. The main topic of discussion is almost always RVs.

Thanks Mark

Are all of these airports relatively secure and have tie downs??

Thanks agian

Frank

Fullerton is the best bet if you're gonna be sticking around the Garden Grove area. Also, if planning on heading out towards Riverside, bear in mind that the 91 fwy is a gargantuan PITA on weekdays and holidays.

Compton (CPM) is also an excellent choice. From compton, you can easily get to any of your areas. Compton has some of the most concentrated kit aircraft builders and owners i've seen anywhere. I own an RV6 and there are about 15 RVs on our field.

Steve

Some More Info

I'm flying out to southern California next week and El Monte is where we have planned to tie down. I have a lot of experience with the El Monte and John Wayne Airports and I have landed at all of them in the LA area except for LAX and Compton. I flew to work every day for 15 years between John Wayne and El Monte until I retired in 2004. My plane (except at the very end, red/silver/black Cherokee zero-four-lima) was based at John Wayne.

John Wayne will work and it is very close to Garden Grove but it is not an easy (casual) airport to use. It is an air carrier airport with a lot of 757 traffic requiring extra spacing. The two dominant runways are 19L & 19R (1L & 1R are only used during Santa Ana wind conditions). All instrument approaches are to the long runway 19R/1L and most traffic arriving from the north will be required to land there with the jets. There is a lot of traffic and they try to keep the planes as close together as the rules allow during peak periods. Access is limited but the FBOs on the east side have tie downs and rental cars. The last couple of trips back to the coast when I went into John Wayne (most recent in November) I used the Newport Jet Center -- Oh wait a minute, they changed to Atlantic Aviation (5 miles from the Pacific). The reasons are (1) they are located at the south end of the field which is the least busy and (2) you can request parking in the "over flow" tiedown space on the parking ramp south of their busy jet ramp. The tiedown and fuel cost are extremely high but your plane will be a safe as it is possible to get. The tower opens at 06:15 and closes at 23:00 local time. It is not at all uncommon for them to close the airport from 00:00 until 06:00 for airport maintenance. The ultimate Mickey Mouse TFR is always in effect over Disneyland and the during Baseball season you always have to be aware of Angel Stadium and the schedule if you should deviate from your always fly IFR preference - not a good idea in the LA basin without a lot of very careful planning and precise flying.

El Monte by contrast is very user friendly with a self serve fuel facility at the middle of the field on the east side of the runway and adjoining taxiway. The fuel cost is reasonable in a relative sense and the transient parking is in the rows immediately north and south of the fuel facility (called the fuel pit locally by pilots and controllers) and they like to have the singles park in the row north of the fuel pit. Lightning Aviation is adjacent to the transient ramp just north of the restaurant and they have Enterprise Rental Cars. There is a centralized parking lot on the east side from which you can easily walk to your plane. All approaches are circle to land coming in at virtual right angles to the runway. VOR-A is by far the most used and it arrives from the east using the POM VOR as the land based navaid. Stepdown fixes are located by DME and SLI VOR radials. several years ago they raised the MDA to around 900 feet so morning marine layers are often a problem. If you are not familiar with the airport, it is very difficult to see. As you approach from the east you pass over a major north-south freeway called the I-605 and off to your left a long low ~1,400 ft ridge ends abruptly at the freeway. At this point you are really close to the airport and if conditions are VMC it would be a good idea to advise the tower that you do not have the airport in sight. You may see a concrete flood basin just to the right (north) of the runway and a concrete flood channel going south from it (yes people have landed in the flood channel by mistake). The 19/01 runway is right next to the flood channel and part of the reason for its being hard to see is the runway, the taxiway and the large parking ramp are all one big paved surface that is straight on the west side and runs right up to the buildings and perimeter fence on the east side. It looks similar to an industrial park but just keep looking and the many airplanes and runway numbers give it away. I would install a canopy cover to discourage lookie-loos but I have never had any problems with airplane security at El Monte. The tower opens at 07:00 and closes at 21:00

Bob Axsom

Bob Axsom said:

John Wayne will work and it is very close to Garden Grove but it is not an easy (casual) airport to use. It is an air carrier airport with a lot of 757 traffic requiring extra spacing.

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SNA is a very interesting place. I normally see everything from 737s/Airbi/ERJs/etc to Cirri to R22/R44 helos to a Cub used as a trainer at Sunrise Aviation. Occasional RVs and Extra 300s Mixing the different traffic speeds makes for an interesting pattern. Go-arounds are common.

Be aware that 19L closes at night and becomes a taxiway, as there are so many RON heavies, they park them on the taxiway. Also, noise restrictions on the heavies limit departures until 7am. This means that there is a line of about 7-8 heavies waiting to depart at 7am, so whatever you do, get out before 7 or plan to wait. How do I know?