San Diego

[kent4142]

Hi All,

I am planning a flight into San Diego, Gillespie Field (KSEE) in late May.  There are 3 FBO's there.  Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Kent

kent4142@me.com

[donv]

I'm going to San Diego in early May as well, and I decided to just go into SAN and deal with Signature's outrageous fees. I'm going to the convention center, and it's so much closer than Gillespie for that... my plan is to pay the facility fee but not buy any fuel, unless there is something I'm missing. Their fuel price is so high that it's hard to imagine any fee waiver making enough of a difference to buy fuel.

I'll just stop in Fresno or Bakersfield or somewhere with cheap fuel in the central valley on the way home.

[Sergio Vega]

Normally when going to San Diego, I prefer Montgomery Field, now known as Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (KMYF), there's transient parking or you can go to Gibbs Flying Service. KMYF is located in San Diego and closer to the downtown area than KSEE which is located in El Cajon. 

[kent4142]

Thanks for the tip about Montgomery-Gibbs KMYF, and Gibbs Flying Service.  I might use KSEE as an alternate if the marine layer is too thick when we get there.

Kent

[donv]

I ran the numbers, and I think I will use Gillespie or Montgomery instead... according to Google, while MYF is considerably closer to the marina than SEE, the travel time is not all that different. SEE has much cheaper fuel.

However, if the consensus is that there is a big difference in driving time, I might change my mind. Any thoughts?

[donv]

I ended up going into Gillespie. It was only about 25 minutes driving time to the convention center, and fuel was $5/gallon cheaper! Sure, Signature would have waived some fees to bring it down to only being $3/gallon cheaper, but still... there is a certain point where I just can't take it any more.

Anyway, I can't say enough good things about High Performance Aircraft in Gillespie! Great service, great prices, they even put the airplane in the hangar overnight without charging me. Their ramp is pretty small, so I would definitely call them in advance if you plan to go there.

I would also take some time briefing the approaches into Gillespie. It was so-so when I went in there, but enough that I needed to shoot the LOC-D. There is a good reason why it's not a straight-in approach-- if you don't see the runway quite a bit back on the approach, you won't be landing straight in. If you brief it and take some time to look at it while at cruise or something, it's fine, but just keep in mind that there is a lot of terrain around that airport-- including some on final! I might think twice about going there at night, unless I started going there a lot.