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Asheville, NC ramp


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10 hours ago, Hank said:

Hendersonville is huge and in great shape compared to 33A a little further south . . . No fuel, one hangar, no services, a handful of tiedowns. And the patches in the pavement have been patched . . .  But it's close to mom & dad.

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That reminds me of a nice little grass strip I go to often, it has a drainage ditch 1/4 of the way down the runway, if you land before it you'll bounce back into the air.  The good news is if you take off from the other end and you aren't in the air by the ditch you will be once you hit the ditch! :o

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KAVL has been doing some upgrades to the runway.  Sounds like they are trying to make us pay for it in "user fees".

I will consider going there for one night if fees are waived with fuel purchase, but at $35 per night I don't see any more weekend trips.  If this is the case then they lost me as a customer.

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The worst thing about flying into Asheville, is that you can't bring the motorcycle that way. Stick a pin in the map in Asheville and draw a circle 100 miles in diameter. That is some of the best motorcycle riding anywhere in the country. I went to high school in Asheville, and my grandparents lived there until they passed away a few years ago. It's one of my favorite places in the the whole US.

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Just now, gsxrpilot said:

The worst thing about flying into Asheville, is that you can't bring the motorcycle that way. Stick a pin in the map in Asheville and draw a circle 100 miles in diameter. That is some of the best motorcycle riding anywhere in the country. I went to high school in Asheville, and my grandparents lived there until they passed away a few years ago. It's one of my favorite places in the the whole US.

Never knew you grew up there Paul, my oldest brother lives on the Swannanoa River and my parents recently moved there as well. Every time I visit, I wish I had the bike with me! We should plan a Mooney meet up there sometime! 

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4 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

The worst thing about flying into Asheville, is that you can't bring the motorcycle that way. Stick a pin in the map in Asheville and draw a circle 100 miles in diameter. That is some of the best motorcycle riding anywhere in the country. I went to high school in Asheville, and my grandparents lived there until they passed away a few years ago. It's one of my favorite places in the the whole US.

my urban street converted TW200 might fit!... jk... I've seen it fit into a maule though..   These days, just the electric scooters come with us in the mooney

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14 minutes ago, N6758N said:

Never knew you grew up there Paul, my oldest brother lives on the Swannanoa River and my parents recently moved there as well. Every time I visit, I wish I had the bike with me! We should plan a Mooney meet up there sometime! 

The above mentioned Switzerland Inn (Gary Jensen) hosts several motorcycle club get togethers every summer.  

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I'd be up for a weekend fly-in and motorcycle tour. Fly to somewhere in Western NC in the Mooney and rent a bike for a day or two of riding through the area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Tail of the Dragon, Cherokee, Fontana Dam, Mount Pisgah, etc. We don't need a tour guide, or organized (pay for) excursion. I've already got the maps for it somewhere :-)

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2 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

I'd be up for a weekend fly-in and motorcycle tour. Fly to somewhere in Western NC in the Mooney and rent a bike for a day or two of riding through the area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Tail of the Dragon, Cherokee, Fontana Dam, Mount Pisgah, etc. We don't need a tour guide, or organized (pay for) excursion. I've already got the maps for it somewhere :-)

Sign me up! My son-in-law's family is there and they all ride, they'd be more than happy to take us all for a tour of some of the nicer roads.  This was taken last summer when we went up to ride. 

20160819_091139.jpg

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my riding days are pretty much over... I used to race WERA 600 and worked for Joe Rocket... basically got burned out.  It was sad to hear about Nicky Hayden... I had outfitted him and his brothers while he was riding AMA and his first two seasons of MotoGP.  We did a few midnight drunken hot laps in rental cars at mid ohio one year... I've left a few pieces of plastic along 129 and plenty of tickets for the privilege of seeing what a liter bike can do.   After having changed final drive, tires, and setup on the TW, it is a pretty sweet street fighter though.  I had thought about taking it up there, but I just haven't had the drive to make it happen.

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5 hours ago, Bob_Belville said:

I suspect that most of us occasionally do more to rough up the gear touching down hard than is done rolling out on a less-than-smooth runway.

Have you been watching my landings.

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Just now, Bob_Belville said:

In the interested of accuracy are you tempted to log more than one landing per flight?

I probably could.

If I could just keep people away from the airport, I would be OK. If no one is around I don't bounce too much. But if anyone is watching ...

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Asheville vectored us on a 25nm downwind, so it pretty much doubled our flight time from knoxville.  When we arrived to signature, they were running around crazy busy.   They signaled us to park in front of the FBO, we shut down and got out. They were nice and all, but a few minutes later, they asked me to start it back up to taxi to a far away spot.  They said they won't touch a mooney because they are afraid to break the nose gear.   it seems they weren't afraid to tow the acclaim away on a dolly, but they obviously couldn't bare to keep my lowly old vintage F near the whiny shiny jets for 20 hours.  I don't know why they didn't just signal me to go park where they wanted to me if they knew they weren't going to tow it.  Oh well.  I'd rather restart and taxi than have my gear torn up!

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Leaving was a not so great experience either unfortunately.  We were standing at the counter in the FBO for what seemed like forever and 4 people working there wouldn't give us the time of day...  finally, I was served a bill for $17 after I told them that I was going to buy gas at the pump.  They said, oh ok, then the $35 handling fee is waived and I kind of chucked and said, what handling... the line guys refused to handle my plane ..but it fell on deaf ears.   My wife said, I guess we need a citation to get a smile here....  Let's blow this joint, ...so we did.    

It took 15 minutes for someone to let us through the gate and to our plane with the rental car...  we needed to sense we were parked so far away...  taxied to bfe to get fuel...  called ground and got my clearance.  They told us to hold short of the taxiway...  There was not a single plane on the field, no kidding...  we were at the end of the field too.  I think we were the only machine running at the airport.   After sitting there for a minute or two I asked the controller if it would be easier if I depart vfr so we can get out of here.. my engine is getting hot and I still need to taxi a mile and a half.  So he was nice and all and cleared us to taxi to 35.  When we got down there, I told tower we are ready and they told me to hold short for Cessna traffic on 5 mile final.   Are you kidding me?   After waiting an eternity while we watched the landing light burn like a lone star in the desert sky, we finally got out.  

What's up with crazy big separation AVL ATC?  They were doing that same kind of big separation Friday as well, so I guess it is SOP for them.   

 

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Wow, I never had that kind of trouble with AVL, but haven't been in the last 3-4 years. Then again, on a VFR deprture, they turned me left towards rising terrain and forgot about me; I can't climb like a Citation, and when I asked, the tone in their voice was "oops, we forgot" as their cleared me to resume own navigation  (i.e., direct to destination).

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Sounds like the people at Signature and KAVL were expecting you because they have been reading the MS forum and gave you the royal treatment we feared.... just kidding.  Sorry you had a bad experience on both arrival and departure. I have never had a bad experience there. 

On the other hand, we were treated very well once again by the fine folks at Air Wilmington at KILM this weekend. 

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47 minutes ago, Bartman said:

Sounds like the people at Signature and KAVL were expecting you because they have been reading the MS forum and gave you the royal treatment we feared.... just kidding.  Sorry you had a bad experience on both arrival and departure. I have never had a bad experience there. 

On the other hand, we were treated very well once again by the fine folks at Air Wilmington at KILM this weekend. 

 

Dont get me wrong.  I can't really complain.  I am just super happy to even be able to own and operate a fun and safe plane.  I doubt we will be back to Asheville airport though. ;)

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Guys, the AOPA is dealing with the FBO problem head-on and invites pilots to report excessive fees and gas prices through the following URL:

www.aopa.org/fbofees

They are taking up the issue with the FAA and DOT because many of the airports where these exorbitant fees are being charges receive federal dollars.  

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On 5/24/2017 at 7:21 PM, Wildhorsesracing said:

We go to Asheville regularly, but I always fly into Hendersonville, NC (0A7), nice little airport w/SelfServe

FYI, I just picked up the JerryPlane (my Franken-E) there a week ago, after flying into AVL (which Jerry says charges a "$45 landing fee"). There's no fuel on the field at 0A7. (There's still a sign, though.) There was one other plane tied town, a kid using the runway to do speed trials as he tweaked his sport bike, and a guy in an SUV spraying the weeds sprouting up through the asphalt. All that said, it was a fine strip to depart from. 

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8 hours ago, chrixxer said:

FYI, I just picked up the JerryPlane (my Franken-E) there a week ago, after flying into AVL (which Jerry says charges a "$45 landing fee"). There's no fuel on the field at 0A7. (There's still a sign, though.) There was one other plane tied town, a kid using the runway to do speed trials as he tweaked his sport bike, and a guy in an SUV spraying the weeds sprouting up through the asphalt. All that said, it was a fine strip to depart from. 

FYI - The airport manager races motorcycles for fun, I had a long chat with him about racing the last time I was there.  I landed last summer and they were fueling a trainer but I didn't need fuel so I don't know any more than that.

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