What is your favorite small airport? (San Jose, Long Beach: to buy, taxi, license)

[Dean Trails]

California has such great weather for flying I was curious where your favorite airport is located? Do any of you pilots have the sport license?
Anyone fly the new Cessna 162?

[Charles]

Camarillo used to be nice back in the early 1980s. I remember they had a cantina or something in there.
Fox Field in Lancaster
Big Bear
Brown Field near the Mexican Border (take a cab from there into TJ)

Here's a website pilots can have a little fun with:

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields

[buckeyenative01]

Van Nuys, if only for the history behind it.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by buckeyenative01

Van Nuys, if only for the history behind it.

I learned to fly at VNY. A movie was made on that airport:

One Six Right: The Romance of Flying | An HD Aviation Documentary Film about the Passion for General Aviation

[buckeyenative01]

I may be wrong, but I thought the airport scene from Casablanca was filmed at Van Nuys?

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by Charles

I learned to fly at VNY.

Me too! I still remember my first solo flight off of 16L. I was downwind abeam before I had time to realize that I was in an airplane alone!

Originally Posted by Dean Trails

Do any of you pilots have the sport license?

What's a sport license? As far as I know the basic license is called a private pilot certificate.

[DMenscha]

I learned to fly at what was then called San Jose Municipal airport. Back in the very hazy days of the 70's I was number 6 to land immediately after take off on my first solo. I could barely find the guy in front of me let alone all the other traffic On final I had to land long because of a PSA 727's jet blast between the runways. Greased all 3 and manged to start shaking after the prop stopped and the plane was tied down.

My favorite airport is the relatively new Calaveras County airport (KCPU). I also like hanging out at the Columbia Airport in the summer as CALFire has an air attack base there and it's fun to watch those S-2's and helicopters do their thing.

For Lovehound; There is now a sport pilots license (Thanks EAA!) it has limitations about where you can fly, and the aircraft has a weight limitation. I bet you could look it up at either EAA or the FAA websites.

[vfrpilot]

Harris Ranch next to I-5 in Coalinga is one of my favorites. There is a nice resort/resturant and a minimart/Subway attached to the airfield.
Fallbrook is fun to practice "carrier" landings. The short(around 2000') runway is on top of a little mesa with no over-run area. One day I noticed a couple of kids laying in the ice plants on the north end about 10' below the runway.

[Dean Trails]

Thanks for all the great info. I especially liked the abandoned airfield site. I had idea there were so many. It might even be possible to buy your own air strip?

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Dean Trails

California has such great weather for flying I was curious where your favorite airport is located? Do any of you pilots have the sport license?
Anyone fly the new Cessna 162?

Long Beach - NOT! Trying to pick a runway there is like playing tic-tac-toe on every approach!

Personally, I never had anything against flying in and out of John Wayne. Easy ground access location. Taxi can sometimes be a bit long, but the controllers usually do a really good job of expediting trafic. And really nice if you get to land on 1L-19R.

No sport lic - pvt/instrument

Never flew a 162, mostly 172's and Super Decathalons