Sport Pilot Talk

My wife and I are flying down to Mobile this coming weekend and were looking for any local advice on where to land.

Really only three choices Mobile Regional, Mobile Downtown and St Elmo. I've dropped a note to the big airport FBOs to determine the fees involved. None of them are overly busy (~230 operations a day). Just looking for local knowledge on what might be more small plane friendly.

Can't speak from recent experience, Dave (haven't been to Mobile in over 40 years). But a good place to start is the AOPA airport directory online. That should list landing and tiedown fees, as well as fuel prices. (hint: any FBO offering an AOPA member discount is probably GA friendly.)

Signature has the FBOs at both big airports and are apparently very proud of their facilities. Overnight ramp fee is $15 to $25 for singles depending on size (assume an LSA would be $15). One time facilities access fee of $18 as well that is waved if you purchase 10 gallons of $7 Avgas.

Ouch.

I thought this thread would be about airports with runways that unfurl from the roof of a moving RV or something. How disappointing.

Andy, I'm sure we all thought the same thing, but the rest of us had the good sense not to say it!

Well, I thought everyone had one of those.

I simply pull the BMA lever (ballistic mobile airport), make a low pass over my proposed runway and I spray the instant runway compound like a crop duster. Then I simply turn crosswind, run a normal pattern and land on my new runway. I didn't opt for the edge lighting and runway markings upgrade

dstclair wrote:Well, I thought everyone had one of those.

What's that? Good sense or a pop out runway?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Consider the source.

dstclair wrote:Well, I thought everyone had one of those.

I simply pull the BMA lever (ballistic mobile airport), make a low pass over my proposed runway and I spray the instant runway compound like a crop duster. Then I simply turn crosswind, run a normal pattern and land on my new runway. I didn't opt for the edge lighting and runway markings upgrade

Invent that and I will buy one! As long as the whole package weighs less than ten pounds. I can't be reducin' my useful load, after all, even for a portable airport!

drseti wrote:Andy, I'm sure we all thought the same thing, but the rest of us had the good sense not to say it!

I have many talents. Good sense *might* not be among them.

I've been to St. Elmo - there's not much going on at the field beside cheaper gas. If you have a mechanical issue, it's going to be hard to get help (ask me how I know!) also, if you want to get a ride to town, it's probably going to be $45 bucks for a taxi and you're not going to get a rental at the airport. If you need that kind of service, go to one of the bigger airports. Next time I go through I'd likely stop at Ray 5R7 if I was in an LSA that was OK on the grass. My other option would be Foley.

Ryan