Flying to Santa Ynez Airport. What a little gem! We approached from the East at 6,500'. Santa Barbara approach released us from flight following at the San Marcos Pass and reported no traffic between us and the airport, we went to the CTAF after that. We flew over Lake Cachuma, then did an over-head mid-field crossing at 2,200' just to observe the area and make a presence instead of doing a straight in. We then teardropped in to the 45 entry to the left downwind at 1,700' for runway 26. There is a nice little picnic area in front of the airport office that overlooks the runway. If you walk to the end of the row of hangers to the northwest corner of the airport, just before hanger "J", there is a pathway down the hill. This serves as a shortcut if you want to walk to the little town of Santa Ynez and will take you to the corner of Edison and Mission Drive. As you can see from the pictures the hill is a little steep, but our 4 year old was able to make it with a little help. Some popular restaurants are Don Carlito's (Mexican), The Red Barn Steakhouse and The Longhorn Coffee Shop (breakfast hours only). We ate at the Burger Barn (which has a patio, and also serves breakfast), we were not disappointed, great food. I picked up some in-house made beef jerky from the Roundup Market right on the same corner mentioned above, for the trip back, I wish I would have gotten more, yummy. A beautiful 75 degree day in the middle of January in SoCal, who could ask for more?
Flight Planning at SkyVector.com
I am just beginning my flight training so it will be a while until I need to do any trips with my boys. I noticed that you took your daughter with you and even got her a pink headset. She is the same age as my oldest son.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to know about some of the details of traveling with a kids in a airplane? My sons are 2 and 4, and are both dying to go flying someday. I am planning on putting them both in booster seats. We will be flying about 260 miles to visit my in-laws probably once a month. How did you daughter handle the airplane the first time you too her up?
Norm Walker
River Falls WI
acemannw@gmail.com
Hi Norm, I basically took my time and took baby steps with my daughter. I am still working her up to the longer trips. She just started flying with us when she turned 4. I started by flying with her on a trip to Vegas on Southwest Airlines when she was 3. Then took her to some airshows, and had her sit and "play" in the Cessna, and just talked about flying alot to her, and showed her lots of pics and my videos, so there were no surprises. She handled it great the first time, we just did a very short hop for just 20 minutes, then worked my way further each time. Having an ipod with her favorite music helped alot. The plane and the headset both have ipod jacks. I always wait for the perfect flying weather days for them, so no turbulence etc. She usually sleeps the whole way back on the burger runs :) Hope that helps! Mark
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