ZuluZulu

No personal experience to speak of (yet), but I know Bill's Air Center at KSMO maintains plenty of 172's for the flight schools on the field, especially Santa Monica Flyers whose 172's are always in the air. There's a landing fee, but at least it's a short flight from Whiteman. When you land just tell Ground you're going to Bill's, and you'll get "taxi to Bill's via Bravo." I've met the head A&P a couple times, Andres Gonzalez, who seems like a real pro and a straightshooter. He's given free hands-on demonstrations to help educate local pilots, which was nice of him to do. He was also giving advice on what to look for when buying a plane -- sounds like the kind of guy you'd want doing a pre-buy. Wish I could tell you more. Good luck!

Newbie here. Are these coming back, @LASAR?