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SNF Planning

Kevin Horton

Well Known Member
My late March schedule has opened up, so Terry and I will try to fly to SNF this year. I've never flown to SNF, and only went by car once, many years ago.

The first question I need to decide is which day we should target to arrive. How does the arrival volume compare to OSH? The Sunday before OSH starts, it can be very busy, except if you get there early in the morning. How does the Monday before SNF compare to the Sunday before OSH?

How are the homebuilt camping facilities at SNF as compared to OSH homebuilt camping? Is there some other option we should consider?

Thanks for any advice or info.
 
Kevin,

The most important thing to organise is beer with other RV'ers.

Arrange a day, place, flower in the ear and we will be there.

Mike

p.s. That's how I met Dan Horton :D
 
Easier than OSH

I arrived early the first day and it wasn't bad at all. The camping facilities aren't as good as OSH but they are not bad either. Enjoy.
 
Flying in any day before 0900 isn't bad. The controllers do a good job. I've never been to Osh so I can't compare.
I usually fly in thursday & friday mornings. Since I live 15 RV minutes away, I go home at night. I've never done the camping, but the beer encounter sounds good.
 
Also first time

I am also planning my first visit to SNF so I am watching this thread for any suggestions on where to stay if not camping, and transportation to hotels, or other places that accommodate visitors.
 
Kevin,

Arrival volume in general is lower than OSH although I have experienced arriving at KOSH with no planes ahead of me and at SnF with 10-15 ahead of me (in the old days).

Arrival is SIMPLER as on the last leg, you approach the airport mid-field and turn left or right based on wind. Way less stressful than an OSH arrival.

If you are VFR, be on the lookout in Central Florida ... a LOT of student pilots!

I camp at SnF and do Dorms at OSH. Nice community at Homebuilt Camping. It is "managed" by a family that volunteers year after year to "take good care of us". :)
There is no dorm equivalent and a hotel most likely requires a car.

If you want (VFR) Flight Following through Florida, you will need to be in the system by Georgia or you are likely to not get service that week.

If no FF then I would suggest arriving (picking up in south Georgia) using KSSI-MONIA-KGNV-KVPKER .... (KLAL with arrival procedure). This avoids two permanent TFRs and much restricted space.

More than you asked for but figured I would throw is out there ...

James
 
Get there early!

Team RV will be performing on Tuesday and Wednesday only! Come by and say hello.

Get there on Thursday if you want to miss all of that. :(
 
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Kevin,
Morning arrivals have never been a problem. Evening arrivals wait in a circle over Lake Parker until after post-airshow departures, and the hold circle can get pretty crazy. Last year the Thunderbirds closed the airspace for practice without notice on any schedule I saw.

Arrivals tend to aim directly for the Erector Set (the power plant on the north shore of Lake Parker) to begin the approach. So, fly to a point several miles east of the power plant, then turn west and put your head on a swivel. As James said, the rest of the approach is simple.

Here's my nickel tour:

You'll probably camp in the red box, in particular if you arrive early. Unless something has (hopefully) changed, the closest shower is at the red arrow, in the corner of the ultralight campground. You find a gate in the fence and walk down the road to get there.

The best camping is in Vintage, the blue box.

Food/beer is in the green box....so take along your own essentials. The good news is that the food situation is generally better than OSH...a variety of vendors with many menu choices.

The airshow line is in red. That means the entire homebuilt parking area (yellow) is off limits during airshow and T-bird practice times. If you want to walk it, do it in the AM.

2u7lk4y.jpg
 
Also,

There are tram shuttles when you get tired of walking to/from the homebuilt camping area (red box in DanH's pic). We camp there and as James said, the family that takes care of this camping area is great - coffee and sweet rolls in the mornings, etc! The shower facilities are decent - hot water always and no line at the ladies'! We do the dorms in Osh, so can't compare the camping there. Flying in/out is probably easier than OshKosh due to the fact that it will be either east or west, no other runway choices, but definitely keep your head on a swivel! And, lastly, when camping there is no worry about the beer - just stagger back to your tent!:D
 
Excellent tour Dan. The only thing you left out was where they haul off (without permission of the owner) all of the tornado damaged planes.

My advice is to plan your arrival to be crossing the power plant before 10 am local (Eastern, DST). I have never had to circle the lake, even once.
Make sure you have a fresh set of brake pads. Long, slow taxi to the various tie-down areas.
Sun screen.
Home built parking is the best place to park if you are not camping. Yes, it is off limits during the air show, Noon to 5 pm each day.
Tie downs: You will get a lot of arguments, but my corkscrew doggie tie-downs weathered the storm last year. YMMV.
Sun screen.
Plan on a rain shower. It is Florida in the spring.
I usually stay at a Marriott in Lakeland. You will need a car. No shuttle that I am aware of.
Stay away from the FBO. They will hit you with a daily ramp fee if you park on their ramp. Last year, because of the storm, the tried to charge a friend of mine after he was directed to park there.
Sun screen.
Bring a folding chair to sit and watch the air show.

All of that said, I will be back this year. But only for a day. Work issues will only allow me one day.

Oh, I forgot to mention sunscreen. Bring plenty. The spring Florida sun will roast you. Especially if you spend the day looking up wards toward the air show.
 
In my opinion, and that's what it is, the Lake parker muster circle is too close to the event. OSH FSK arrival is much further away from OSH runway and it makes everyone single file over a good distance to the base leg.

Lake Parker is a circle and when the controller reopens the pattern after say the Blue Angles arrival, the good folks cut the corners off the circle pattern and enmass head to the airport.

That when its a beehive.

If Lake parker hold is not in the picture, it works pretty good.
 
Make sure you have a fresh set of brake pads. Long, slow taxi to the various tie-down areas.

Glad you mentioned that. Hot brakes can be a serious issue, in particular for A-models. You may never have a problem at home due to good technique, but the S&F conga lines are stop-and-go with many turns and little chance for aero steering. So, manage your brakes. And put a small halon extinguisher in the airplane.

BTW....look at the notam. They want you southbound almost to the blue roof terminal building before you turn left or right for downwind. Then you'll be landing on the north taxiway, 9L or 27R for the show, close to your downwind. You will not get a squared-off base leg. The guys who do tight overheads on a regular basis will feel right at home. As for the rest, don't fixate on the main runway, then tighten your turn to make the correct runway. Bad juju.
 
Alton is right!

They REQUIRE tie downs there.

They have them for rent if you forget to bring them. I think they charge $25 for them. Not sure if that is daily or weekly.

If I were you, I would bring my own.

:) CJ
 
NOTAM

Kevin,

Get a copy of the NOTAM and get familiar with it. Know what you're looking for after you cross the power plant on Lake Parker and it is an easy flight to landing. The dangerous time is funneling yourself into the line east of Lake Parker as you fly west toward the power plant. Keep your head moving. Once you get your place in line, you will be fine. It's really not difficult at all, but read the NOTAM and KNOW what you are supposed to do. Have fun.
 
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If you are VFR, be on the lookout in Central Florida ... a LOT of student pilots!

Just to add to what CB said there are a lot of student pilots in FL some of which speak poor English. They typically do a lot of position reports in training areas so its not uncommon for those frequencies to be saturated particularly at altitude.

And if you fly over Alabama, be prepared to not understand a single word heard on the radio. :D
 
Lake Parker Hold

I have been in the hold over Lake Parker during a morning arrival. The lake is relatively small, so it fills up with aircraft in a hurry. Within about 2 laps around the lake, I had planes over, under, and next to me. Personally I will never enter/remain in the hold again. The good news is that you have some very easy "outs" during a hold. If it happens to me again, I plan to simply fly off to the East and continue to monitor the Lake Parker frequency. Once the hold clears, just fly back to the power plant.

That being said....Please don't let this concern you. Flying in to SNF is an awesome and rewarding experience. Just be sure to read and understand the NOTAM. Keep your head on a swivel, fly in and ejoy ever minute of it!
 
Thanks to everyone for the info and advice.

My current plan is to fly to Savannah on Saturday, March 24th and spend a day in this beautiful city. We would fly to SNF on Monday morning. On the way home we may spend a day in Spruce Creek, visiting friends there.

See you at SNF, assuming my schedule doesn't change again, and the weather cooperates.
 
Hi Kevin
Our plans are to try and get to Kissimmee at least. Allister (one of the RV-10 owners) has a new winter home there. We plan on flying over to Sun n Fun for a couple days. Probably make some other excursions arround Florida and plan on seeing the Mississippi river for the first time.
Ron
 
Just another data point from my first and last flight into SnF last year.

We arrived at Lakeland sometime around 11:00-12:00 Sunday morning before the show. I don't know if this was the norm or if it was just an anomaly that occurred for us during this one trip but from the time we entered the area east by the power plant until we touched down on the runway we had absolutely no traffic around us for our arrival. In fact, ATC did not even talk to us until we were touching down on the runway when they told us where to taxi.

Perhaps others who have flown in multiple times and on the weekend prior to the show can pipe in on whether this was an anomaly or not but, for us, on that day it was easier than landing at my home airport.

Of course, from the Thursday after that until I was able to takeoff around noon on the following Sunday, it was utter chaos and something I hope to never experience again. Consequently, Kevin, I hope to catch up with you at SnF and check out your new plane but my wife and I will be flying our personal 737 courtesy of Southwest along with 100 or so other passengers into Tampa this year.
 
Of course, from the Thursday after that until I was able to takeoff around noon on the following Sunday, it was utter chaos and something I hope to never experience again. Consequently, Kevin, I hope to catch up with you at SnF and check out your new plane but my wife and I will be flying our personal 737 courtesy of Southwest along with 100 or so other passengers into Tampa this year.

Get back on that horse Steve!

See you there.
 
Does anyone know if you can fly in to the splash-in at FA08 (Fantasy of Flight) on the Thursday (i.e on to the runway rather than the lake)?

I plan to arrive on the Thursday and it would be good to stop off there before going to Lakeland.
 
Have any of you ever camped in the General Aircraft Camping area before? If so, how far away are the showers, food, etc? Also, are you kicked out of your camp site during the airshow?

PS I wish being in the process of building an RV qualified one to park in the HBC area.:(
 
Have any of you ever camped in the General Aircraft Camping area before? If so, how far away are the showers, food, etc? Also, are you kicked out of your camp site during the airshow?

PS I wish being in the process of building an RV qualified one to park in the HBC area.:(

The regular GA camping site is located just off of rwy 9 (both sides)--try to park on the south side. From the gate to the showers is about 100 yards--it depends when you arrive as to how close you'll be to the gate but figure on another 100 to 200 yards. IF what you're flying is old enough to qualify as Vintage A/C, then you can park on the other side of the field (by rwy 5) and be close to everything. Not sure what the qualifier is for Vintage but I'd guess at early to mid 70s.
If you're by rwy 9 you would have to evac for T-Birds, not sure in Vintage area.
 
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