Flying to Wichita, Kansas...airports???

olyolson · #1 08-20-2012, 10:27 AM

Flying my RV-4 from St Louis to Wichita to see my son. Never flown in there so any good ideas for an airport in the vicinity? Staying the night so would like to tie down in a safe airport with cheap gas in the area.
Thanks,
Oly

dmaib · #2 08-20-2012, 10:45 AM

I am a Wichita native but have not lived there for several years. However I have traveled there routinely for business and family. My last several trips I have used the Wichita municipal airport. (KICT) Yingling Aircraft is a long time FBO on the field and they are very light aircraft GA friendly. They have self-serve 100LL that is usually competitively priced. I have been able to get hangar space from Yingling when I needed it, as well. Talk to Tom Reardon, the customer service guy at Yingling. I have used Jabara airport in the past, (KAAO) but have had some problems there and the fuel is usually pretty expensive. Augusta (3AU) is a decent airport east of town, but I don't know anything about services available. I have heard good things about the Benton airport (1K1), which is out to the NE, but have not been there for several years. Wichita is not big or difficult to get around, so choice of airport location won't make a huge difference in travel time. There are several small airports such as Westport (Dead Cow International

), Riverside, and Cook Field as well.

Bob Axsom · #3 08-20-2012, 11:09 AM

I personally like Jabara. It is on the St. Louis side of town and it is clear of the Class C airspace. We have had a couple of air races flown out of there and even though it has first class facilities it is a much more relaxed operating environment. I've been into Mid Continent and Stearman field which is smaller and even closer to St. Louis.

When I was flying back from Boise, ID yesterday in our RV-6A I landed at Hutchinson, KS to avoid all of the wichita hassle but I seriously considered Col. Jabara (I was a Korean war aged kid - so the name means something to me).

Bob Axsom

crabandy · #4 08-20-2012, 11:10 AM

Benton airport is a nice with great people and a restaurant that I hear is good, but it is 15 min drive (all hwy) to NE Wichita. Yingling is a good choice for Ict. AAO is more corporate traffic and right off 96 hwy. k32 is a little run down but good acess to the nw side. 3au was a decent airport with tie downs and self serve on the east side right off 54hwy.

Walt · #5 08-20-2012, 02:57 PM

I went up to ICT last week, parked at Yingling and borrowed a courtesy car for a few hours, they also put my aircraft in the hanger because a storm was moving in. I bought 10 gals of self serve as my way of saying thanks, (I'm sure that was their biggest sale of the day

). Super nice folks even for us lowly RV drivers.

olyolson · #6 08-22-2012, 09:24 PM

Ok guys thanks for the posts. Just got back from seeing my son in Wichita. He's a personal trainer and one of his clients has an awesome condo hangar and he was kind enough to let me put my RV in his hangar. This was at the Benton Airpark also known as Stearman Field (1K1). Really liked the the field, gas was $5.75/gal but the restaurant is the reason to go there. It has an aviation theme and is very well done. But the food, Wow! We started off with some of the best fried pickles I've ever had. My son and I both had the Stearman burger (of course) an it was served with pepper jack cheese and Jalape?os. It was mouth watering and something you would see on Man vs Food.

Worth the stop

Steve Melton · #7 08-23-2012, 03:38 PM

Overflew 3AU this summer on my way to ICT, Yingling. It looked like 3AU has had some recent runway improvements. I thought Yingling was pricey.