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

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.

Almost. The requested noise abatement out of 21 is to turn left over
the VOR, then straighten out and fly the runway heading over the golf
course. The usual northbound departure request for VFR goes something
like "Cessna XXX holding short 21, right turn at shoreline."

When you land, just turn off the active and stop when you're at least a
plane length into the apron, it's all paved. Tower will usually tell
you when to contact ground, or they'll have you taxi with them
depending on who's in the bathroom or whatnot.

I second the suggestion to land VFR to avoid wacky vectoring. You can
save a lot of time coming down the coast(watch for traffic, it's a busy
corridor) and call into KSMO at Pacific Palisades (it's on the chart).


Oh, keep in mind that it's right traffic for 21 (the prevailing
runway), and left traffic for 03. They really don't want you getting
anywhere near LAX, it's right next door.

Get a copy of the terminal chart if you're going to be in the area,
it'll make life easier. The sectional just doesn't have some of the
stuff that you need to really get around quickly, like the VFR corridor
over LAX.

Instead of stopping at Supermarine, you might want to stop at the
transient parking on the south side of the field, there's a good
restaurant there (Typhoon) and nice outdoor tables.

On 11 Jun 2005 22:01:53 -0700, "Ben Hallert"
wrote in .com::

(watch for traffic, it's a busy corridor)

If you come down the coast, burn a landing light and contact Santa
Barbara Approach Control 20 miles north (or west). Radar Advisory
Service is prudent from that point due to traffic congestion. But you
probably knew that.