Santa Monica (KSMO) Tips or Gotchas?

Add me to the list of pilots who find themselves much more baffled
after landing (where is the FBO for little airplanes?) than I am in the
air.

I've flown from northern CA to KSMO several times, both VFR and IFR.

IFR, I've gotten vectors, not a published arrival. There's a lot going
on down there and they've got good radar coverage, so they're going to
use it to keep everyone going. Unfortunately, this means you might be
in the air a little longer than you'd like.

VFR, by the way, it's pretty easy to get in without much fuss and avoid
the vectoring. If the weather is clear, you may considered canceling
early. You can get into KSMO from the north\northeast without having to
penetrate any B or C space.

Once on the ground, I'd recommend Supermarine. It's the nice FBO and
they handle corporate jets as well as spamcans. American Flyers, a
flight school on the field, also has an FBO and they can park and fuel
your plane, too. Their gas is a good deal cheaper but their facility
more homely.

One nice thing about Supermarine is that they seem more capable of
arranging a rental car than American Flyers.

Other note: on takeoff, climbout straight ahead all the way to the
beach before turning on course. Really, noise abatement is important at
this airport, constantly under siege from rich people with no love for
aviation.

I don't know about tipping FBO staff. I have never done it, but then
again, I know nothing. This falls under the category of important
things your instructor never taught you. Hey guys, what is the policy?

-- dave j

Hamish Reid wrote:
I'll be flying one of our 172's down to Santa Monica (KSMO) sometime in
the next few weeks, probably this coming Friday (returning the following
day). I'll be arriving from Oakland, stopping somewhere like Santa Maria
or San Luis Obispo for lunch before arriving IFR into SMO with a couple
of passengers at around 3pm.

Any tips on Santa Monica airport and associated FBOs? I'm familiar with
the area from the ground, but haven't flown into SMO itself before, and
don't want to miss any less-obvious gotchas or make a major faux pas or
something. And for the IFR bits -- should I expect the Fernando 5 /
DARTS arrival pretty much as-is, or should I expect to get a more
complex airways routing -- or just a series of vectors? I'm happy with
any combination, but it'd be nice to be forewarned...

And one dumb question -- do you tip FBO staff if they've parked your
plane for you somewhere and retrieved it again? OK, since this is LA and
it's a species of valet parking, of course you do, but how much? They
did this once (very competently, with impressive attention to detail) on
a crowded ramp at Santa Barbara, and I hadn't a clue what to give 'em...

Thanks,

Hamish