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Anyone have any recommendations for hangars around the Seattle area?  I'm relocating there in July (likely downtown).  I have called around, and it sounds like waiting lists are multiple years deep.  I know it's a long shot, but I have a hangar at AUS that I'd be willing to swap temporarily if anyone is interested (waiting list is also a year or 2 deep in Austin).
 

Also, can anyone familiar with the area weather speak to how much non-FIKI flyable weather you get during the year?  Thanks in advance.

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I grew up there, as well as learned to fly there for 20+ years before relocating to NY.  As far as hangars, it would help if you could narrow down "Seattle area" a bit.  If you're thinking of Boeing Field (KBFI), you'll pay through the nose.  If you're talking (for example) Tacoma Narrows (KTIW) down South, or Arlington (KAWO) up North, hangars are much cheaper.  Any or all would most-likely have a waiting list, so probably good to get on them now.

Weather-wise, you can encounter icing any time of year really on either side of the mountain passes...but especially over the Cascade and Olympic ranges.  If you're not familiar with the terrain, and are planning to traverse the mountains at all, I highly suggest a mountain flying course (more like a seminar) and maybe a ride-along with someone experienced in such before you undertake it alone or with others.  I've done it hundreds of times commercially, and on many trips have gone well-above FL250 before I break out into VMC-on-top.  Weather in the Pacific NW isn't anything to take lightly - even in a FiKI-equipped Acclaim.  It is, however, a beautiful area in which to fly VFR when conditions permit...which is more prevalent between ~May and September...again, broadly-speaking.  Exceptions apply of course.

Others on here are based in the Pacific NW and can hopefully offer additional advice and suggestions.

Steve

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Where in the Seattle area are you going to live?  A condo downtown?  South of the Seattle?  North?  East?  Across the sound to the West?

Housing is cheaper the further you get from Seattle.  And the politics improve too.  If you go North or South, you can ride the train to downtown for work.  To the east you must drive.  To the west you can take the ferry.  Once you know where you want to live we can give you a better idea of places to base the plane.  And are you looking for an enclosed hangar or just an open hangar to keep the sun and rain off the plane?

As for flying, most days of the year you can go north or south as long as you want to stay west of the Cascades.  Many days in the winter you will not be able to fly IFR because of icing potential, but you might be able to go VFR below the weather.  During the winter forget about trying to cross the Cascades on a regular basis.  There will be a few nice days and a fair number with clouds scattered to broken enough that you can cross, but nothing you can count on.  My personal minimum for crossing the Cascades is a 6000' ceiling so I can fly at 5500'.  If you need to get to the other side of the mountains during the winter, your only option is often to head south to Portland, make a left, and follow the Columbia River.  That adds about 100 NM to your flight.  During the summer most days are nice and for those that aren't you can usually fly at the MEA and be below the freezing level.  Fall and Spring can go either way.

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Thanks Bob/Steve.  I'll definitely be downtown...maybe around the South Lake Union area?  I don't know exactly where yet...I just know that I don't want to commute because that comes directly out of time that I get with the kids (and I'm willing to suffer the politics for that reason!).  We'll definitely be renting for a while until we know where exactly we want to be long term.

I'm looking for an enclosed hangar and ideally close (< an hour on weekends?), but it sounds like I may not be able to be that picky?  Also, define paying through the nose...because I feel like I'm doing that already.  I'm currently paying $537 and it goes up every year, but I think it's worth it...because it's much easier to make sure that the Mooney doesn't sit for more than a week or two without flying.  If flying is that seasonal in the NW though, maybe it's worth "pickling" the Acclaim in the off season and hangaring further out?

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I did a little checking for you.

BFI - I could not find rates for hangars.

PAE - about 30 minutes north.  T-Hangars $311.33.  Enclosed T-hangars $714.91+

S43 (Harvey Field) - about 40 minutes north.  T-Hangars $212.80.  Enclosed hangars $364-$400.

RNT - 20 minutes to the south.  T-Hangars $462 with a 7 to 10 year wait list.

S50 (Auburn) - about 35 minutes south.  T-Hangar $248.25.  Enclosed hangar $431.05 - $535.99.

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13 minutes ago, Bob - S50 said:

I did a little checking for you.

BFI - I could not find rates for hangars.

PAE - about 30 minutes north.  T-Hangars $311.33.  Enclosed T-hangars $714.91+

S43 (Harvey Field) - about 40 minutes north.  T-Hangars $212.80.  Enclosed hangars $364-$400.

RNT - 20 minutes to the south.  T-Hangars $462 with a 7 to 10 year wait list.

S50 (Auburn) - about 35 minutes south.  T-Hangar $248.25.  Enclosed hangar $431.05 - $535.99.

Holy Spit!  :blink:

I think the weather up in the Seattle area is probably a fair degree more challenging than down here in Oregon, and I've already had my little run-in with icing.  Our experience down here in the Willamette Valley is probably not applicable to you, though, because the valley frequently keeps ceilings above 4000 MSL, even during the winter.  The Cascades to the east and the Siskiyous to the south represent a formidable barrier during the winter in those directions...

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1 hour ago, aggiepilot04 said:

Thanks Bob/Steve.  I'll definitely be downtown...maybe around the South Lake Union area?  I don't know exactly where yet...I just know that I don't want to commute because that comes directly out of time that I get with the kids (and I'm willing to suffer the politics for that reason!).  We'll definitely be renting for a while until we know where exactly we want to be long term.

I'm looking for an enclosed hangar and ideally close (< an hour on weekends?), but it sounds like I may not be able to be that picky?  Also, define paying through the nose...because I feel like I'm doing that already.  I'm currently paying $537 and it goes up every year, but I think it's worth it...because it's much easier to make sure that the Mooney doesn't sit for more than a week or two without flying.  If flying is that seasonal in the NW though, maybe it's worth "pickling" the Acclaim in the off season and hangaring further out?

Right now I pay $720 for an enclosed T-hangar with power up/down door and no heat/amenities.  This was raised 1-Jan-2018 from $700...first increase in 5 years.  If I go a bit further East to KHWV, it's about $50-75 more.  A bit further West at Republic (KFRG), you're looking at $850-$1000 without heat/amenities.  White Plains/Westchester (KHPN) is about the same.

Bob summarized pricing nicely.  Although a bit further South, you also may want to check out KPLU (formerly my "second home" near my father's place, and just South of Bob in Auburn) - website below.  A 42-foot enclosed hangar appears to be $224 (tax included).  There's a contact name in there to be placed on their waiting list.

https://www.co.pierce.wa.us/2226/Lease-Opportunities

Steve

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1 hour ago, Bob - S50 said:

I did a little checking for you.

BFI - I could not find rates for hangars.

PAE - about 30 minutes north.  T-Hangars $311.33.  Enclosed T-hangars $714.91+

S43 (Harvey Field) - about 40 minutes north.  T-Hangars $212.80.  Enclosed hangars $364-$400.

RNT - 20 minutes to the south.  T-Hangars $462 with a 7 to 10 year wait list.

S50 (Auburn) - about 35 minutes south.  T-Hangar $248.25.  Enclosed hangar $431.05 - $535.99.

12-13 years ago I had the same dilemma, living downtown and looking for hangar for my M20F. Nothing much changed except the prices want up; so are the waiting lists.

I was based at KBFI (tie down by museum) and you could not find hangars there; those are just not available.

KRTN: I was put on a waiting list and was number 50. after 3-4 years, I called them just for laughs and was #48. After 12 years, I'm still waiting!

S43: I see you fly Acclaim; you don't want to be based there. Short, narrow runway with no approaches. They have open hangars and closed ones but it took then 1 year to return my call and offer open hangar. I'm not kidding!

S50: If you live downtown, it's long commute but I believe hangars could be found. I remember, at that time, new Mooney salesmen rented a large box hangar (50x50) with not much waiting time.

KPLU: in order to get there, I fly my Mooney. No-go if you live downtown/South LU.

KPAE is where I'm based since 2006 with moving into hangar at 2009. Great airport with approaches and service and for 12 years I worked across the street (BA), and would fly to Jeffco for lunch. All T hangars are enclosed. I pay $310 for older one and newer are $480 ( $715 above is not correct). New hangars allow for more advanced repairs and maintenance. These units also have approximately 20-amps of individually metered power Waiting list is longer for older hangars (3y for me) and at one point newer hangars almost had no waiting list. Now? who knows!

At this point a new terminal building is getting built and commercial traffic will be flying in mid 2019 (Alaska and Allegiant airlines). What will that do to prices and ramp access is your guess. Traffic got progressively worse in last 13 years but leaving downtown in the morning you are driving against the traffic - I never had issue with that working at KPAE. Coming back in the evenings can be pain even on weekends.

 

And finally South Lake Union: in last few years there were number of high rise rentals built there and I've read that for the first time in years rental prices are going down this year. Number of those buildings close to Amazon and MS offices are empty so companies give incentives. It's still expensive, though.

 

You are moving up at the right time of the year with great weather and scenery to boot but come October you'll have a lot of opportunity to practice your instrument approaches for real.

Welcome!

 

Edited by Igor_U
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  • 1 month later...

Thanks fellas for all of the helpful info.  Just an update.  I managed to get a (non-enclosed) t-hangar at Auburn (S50).  The waiting list for an enclosed hangar seems to be 2 years (except for Renton, which is 84 years?!?)...and I'm on all of those lists.  The non-enclosed hangar is north-facing, and not on the end.  I wouldn't even consider this in Texas (because the sun/heat is brutal...even indirect), but maybe that's not as big of a deal in the NW?  Thoughts and/or other considerations?  I've visited Seattle for 3 days total...so don't hold back on the seemingly obvious.  The price is reasonable enough (and is month to month) that I could potentially bring the Mooney up for flying season, and pickle it back in Austin during the offseason.  Would that be necessary?

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35 minutes ago, aggiepilot04 said:

Thanks fellas for all of the helpful info.  Just an update.  I managed to get a (non-enclosed) t-hangar at Auburn (S50).  The waiting list for an enclosed hangar seems to be 2 years (except for Renton, which is 84 years?!?)...and I'm on all of those lists.  The non-enclosed hangar is north-facing, and not on the end.  I wouldn't even consider this in Texas (because the sun/heat is brutal...even indirect), but maybe that's not as big of a deal in the NW?  Thoughts and/or other considerations?  I've visited Seattle for 3 days total...so don't hold back on the seemingly obvious.  The price is reasonable enough (and is month to month) that I could potentially bring the Mooney up for flying season, and pickle it back in Austin during the offseason.  Would that be necessary?

The north facing hangar is helpful--in the PNW, precipitation is usually associated with southwesterly winds.  If the hangar faces northwest, afternoon sun in the deep summer can get brutal at times, but this is generally going to be just a couple weeks a year (and coming from Austin you'd probably laugh in our faces at what we call too hot).

Don't pickle it for the winter!  You'll have great opportunities for IFR time.  Icing at low altitudes will be an issue for maybe 2-3 months at the most, so flights within the PNW are perfectly reasonable.  You'll have issues getting out of the PNW during the winter, though.

I don't know how bad the moisture issue is in Auburn.  South of Portland, the air is fairly dry all year, as long as you're out of the rain.  I'm guessing the Seattle microclimate is not as benign, though.

 

84 years???? :blink:

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S50 might be a bad commute on a weekend (it IS on weekdays all the time) but I'm not surprised you had to go there. I'm sure they'll have an enclosed hangar sooner then any other airport around. Did you check at KPAE? I'm curious what the wait time is...

I wouldn't pickle the plane, you should be able to fly quite often and while ice is big concern during 9 months/year if going across the mountains, you are normally OK if you fly low in Puget sound area. In 13 years in SEA there were very few occasions I couldn't fly weekly if flexible enough, except now that I'm working out of state. 

Winter time will be wet with drizzle and rain, few days of snow and such so it is important to me to fly a plane and prevent corrosion, dry the plane and such. I'm not sure if you have TKS on your Acclaim but that increases utility of the plane around PNW.

 

Good luck

 

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We are north facing too.  D13 if that is close to yours.  Our LLC policies say the plane must not sit for more than 2 weeks.  Somebody has to fly it before that happens.  We've never had a problem doing that in 5 years.

As others have said, going east over the mountains is often restricted by icing from about October thru May.  However, heading south is usually do-able 4 or 5 days/week even in the dead of winter.  If you need to go east, just head south to Portland, make a left and follow the Columbia to the other side.  You can do that pretty comfortably at 2000'.  However, it is not uncommon to have high winds and significant turbulence in the Columbia River gorge (which should be called the Columbia River gorgeous).  If you want to go south to California in the winter, following the coast is often an option.

Even in the dead of winter we'll usually get an average of 1 or 2 days/week when the weather is good enough to cross the mountains.  However it may come in groups.  Three nice days in a row followed by nothing but doom and gloom for 2 weeks.

And remember.  When the weather sucks, there is only about 8 hours of daylight.  Good time to have the annual done (we have ours done in November).  In the summer when the weather is nice, we have as much as 16 hours of daylight.

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1 hour ago, jaylw314 said:

The north facing hangar is helpful--in the PNW, precipitation is usually associated with southwesterly winds.  If the hangar faces northwest, afternoon sun in the deep summer can get brutal at times, but this is generally going to be just a couple weeks a year (and coming from Austin you'd probably laugh in our faces at what we call too hot).

Don't pickle it for the winter!  You'll have great opportunities for IFR time.  Icing at low altitudes will be an issue for maybe 2-3 months at the most, so flights within the PNW are perfectly reasonable.  You'll have issues getting out of the PNW during the winter, though.

I don't know how bad the moisture issue is in Auburn.  South of Portland, the air is fairly dry all year, as long as you're out of the rain.  I'm guessing the Seattle microclimate is not as benign, though.

 

84 years???? :blink:

Well, she told me 7ish years, but she also told me that I was 84 on the list and they turnover about 1 hangar per year.  My math is a little rusty, but 7 years doesn't add up.  And yes, it's 100 degrees here right now so don't talk to me about heat...hah. :blink:

37 minutes ago, Igor_U said:

S50 might be a bad commute on a weekend (it IS on weekdays all the time) but I'm not surprised you had to go there. I'm sure they'll have an enclosed hangar sooner then any other airport around. Did you check at KPAE? I'm curious what the wait time is...

I wouldn't pickle the plane, you should be able to fly quite often and while ice is big concern during 9 months/year if going across the mountains, you are normally OK if you fly low in Puget sound area. In 13 years in SEA there were very few occasions I couldn't fly weekly if flexible enough, except now that I'm working out of state. 

Winter time will be wet with drizzle and rain, few days of snow and such so it is important to me to fly a plane and prevent corrosion, dry the plane and such. I'm not sure if you have TKS on your Acclaim but that increases utility of the plane around PNW.

I'm on the list at KPAE and I'll stay on the list for an enclosed hangar at S50...both were about 2 years.  Google maps shows about 40 mins to Auburn with no traffic, 1 hour 20 mins on Friday during rush hour.  I previously based my J model in San Marcos (HYI) and live in downtown Austin, so I think that's fairly comparable.  It's definitely not ideal, but doable.

The hangar does have power, but it looks like the lows are fairly mild (30s and 40s).  I have a preheater, but it's portable and not installed on the engine.  Would you guys consider an installed pre-heater a must-have in order to explore the surrounding areas?

And that's 2 no-pickle votes...I'm sold.  Looking forward to escaping this heat and exploring the PNW!  Thanks again for the helpful info.

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6 minutes ago, aggiepilot04 said:

 

Well, she told me 7ish years, but she also told me that I was 84 on the list and they turnover about 1 hangar per year.  My math is a little rusty, but 7 years doesn't add up.  And yes, it's 100 degrees here right now so don't talk to me about heat...hah. :blink:

I'm on the list at KPAE and I'll stay on the list for an enclosed hangar at S50...both were about 2 years.  Google maps shows about 40 mins to Auburn with no traffic, 1 hour 20 mins on Friday during rush hour.  I previously based my J model in San Marcos (HYI) and live in downtown Austin, so I think that's fairly comparable.  It's definitely not ideal, but doable.

The hangar does have power, but it looks like the lows are fairly mild (30s and 40s).  I have a preheater, but it's portable and not installed on the engine.  Would you guys consider an installed pre-heater a must-have in order to explore the surrounding areas?

And that's 2 no-pickle votes...I'm sold.  Looking forward to escaping this heat and exploring the PNW!  Thanks again for the helpful info.

Typical dead of winter days are lows in the upper 20's to low 30's.  Highs in the mid 30's to low 40's.  We usually get a few days (less than 20) when the lows get down around 20 and the high's don't make it to 32.  It usually snows about 4 or 5 days/year but is usually gone by noon.

We don't pre-heat our plane, but then again our policy is to not fly unless the temperature at start is at least 32F.  We also use Phillips 20W-50 X/C year round.  And our mechanic told me where to get it for about $53/case locally.

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Just now, Bob - S50 said:

We are north facing too.  D13 if that is close to yours.  Our LLC policies say the plane must not sit for more than 2 weeks.  Somebody has to fly it before that happens.  We've never had a problem doing that in 5 years.

As others have said, going east over the mountains is often restricted by icing from about October thru May.  However, heading south is usually do-able 4 or 5 days/week even in the dead of winter.  If you need to go east, just head south to Portland, make a left and follow the Columbia to the other side.  You can do that pretty comfortably at 2000'.  However, it is not uncommon to have high winds and significant turbulence in the Columbia River gorge (which should be called the Columbia River gorgeous).  If you want to go south to California in the winter, following the coast is often an option.

Even in the dead of winter we'll usually get an average of 1 or 2 days/week when the weather is good enough to cross the mountains.  However it may come in groups.  Three nice days in a row followed by nothing but doom and gloom for 2 weeks.

And remember.  When the weather sucks, there is only about 8 hours of daylight.  Good time to have the annual done (we have ours done in November).  In the summer when the weather is nice, we have as much as 16 hours of daylight.

Looks like we're going to be neighbors!  D-15.  Probably would have seen your airplane if she had taken this the opposite direction.  I'm on schedule for a December annual, so that works out nicely (except that I normally squeeze a 13th month out of that by dropping off late in the month, so I may have to stop that).  I normally fly every 2 weeks, but it does occasionally slip to 3.  My flying drops off a bit when the temps hit triple digits...so I think I'll fly more in milder weather (plus the fact that we'll be exploring a new area of the country).  Thanks for sharing the info..

20180614_115436.thumb.jpg.e183189785b9089a5f6be73b5f3a9c10.jpg

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I recognize the spot.  Used to be a C172 there that also had floats.  The pilot had a problem on landing (blown tire?) and departed the hard surface.  Collapsed the nose gear and did some other damage.  It was eventually totaled so your spot became available.  There are 4 of us that fly our plane: Artie (rarely), Chuck, Jeremy, and me (Bob).  Look forward to meeting you.

There are a couple mechanics on the field that work on quite a few Mooney's.

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6 minutes ago, Bob - S50 said:

I recognize the spot.  Used to be a C172 there that also had floats.  The pilot had a problem on landing (blown tire?) and departed the hard surface.  Collapsed the nose gear and did some other damage.  It was eventually totaled so your spot became available.  There are 4 of us that fly our plane: Artie (rarely), Chuck, Jeremy, and me (Bob).  Look forward to meeting you.

There are a couple mechanics on the field that work on quite a few Mooney's.

Thanks...looking forward to meeting you as well.  Would love a recommendation on the mechanic and the oil location as well.  $53 is significantly cheaper than what I'm paying, and I'll need to switch to a multi-weight anyways.

What's the reason for the 32 degree start temp policy?  Just to avoid pre-heating the engine and/or avionics?

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I'm based at AWO.  Depending on what you want AWO may be a better fit than S50.  In an Acclaim the ability to go straight into climb without avoiding SEA Bravo on VFR can be really nice.  Getting out from under SEA's airspace from S50 is a pain unless you're going east or maybe south.  Most people have covered it, BFI costs a fortune, RNT has an eternal wait, PAE is the only really viable option, everything else is really inconvenient.  I'm on the wait list at Paine, have been for about two years.  The wait was allegedly about two years long when I got on and I'm currently about three years out (not a typo, turnover seems to have dropped off.)  You might want to check into Carrera Hangars and some of the other private lease options at Arlington.  I got in on a month's notice at a price comparable to PAE at $375 a month for an enclosed hangar, insulated with power and air, lots of storage space.  Much nicer than the hangar I'll eventually have at Paine.  Plus the power lets me preheat (got a wifi hotspot and a wifi connected outlet which I can switch on remotely) and keep the plane on a battery minder.

If you haven't already, check out the FATPNW group on Facebook.  There's an extremely large and active aviation community up here, full of great people.

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1 hour ago, aggiepilot04 said:

 

Thanks...looking forward to meeting you as well.  Would love a recommendation on the mechanic and the oil location as well.  $53 is significantly cheaper than what I'm paying, and I'll need to switch to a multi-weight anyways.

What's the reason for the 32 degree start temp policy?  Just to avoid pre-heating the engine and/or avionics?

There are two mechanics/businesses that I know of that work on Mooney's at Auburn.

We go to Mike.  I can give you his info when you get here if you are interested.  He's a one man shop that occasionally has someone helping him.  Nice guy.  Not sure how much more work he wants though.  His hangar is always full with planes.

The other place I see quite a few Mooney's is Cornerstone Aviation.  Located in the hangar next to Mike and they also have a couple more hangars they work out of.  Several mechanics.  Always busy.  (253) 939-8750

32 degrees is just an arbitrary number we picked.  Yes, it is to avoid pre-heating since we don't have an easy way to do that and it isn't cold often enough to justify adding it to the plane.

I get my oil at Small & Sons.  112 Third NW, Auburn, WA 98071.  That's less than a mile south of the airport.  Since I live south of the airport, I usually stop on the way home and bring it with me the next time I come to the plane.

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I live in downtown Seattle as well but currently just have a tie down at BFI for my M20F.  I like only being 15 minutes from my plane and I have managed to fly almost every week including during the winter.  S50 is a great place for social aviation as johncuyle mentioned join FATPNW (Flights above the pacific north-west) The founder and headquarters is at S50 in the north enclosed hangers. On FATPNW there is a long list of fly-ins this summer that will make it easy for you to explore the area. 

Do pay close attention around S50 though, there's lots of traffic in the area.  To the east is one of the main training areas for the local flight schools, just north of the field traffic IB/OB to RNT usually flying around 2000-2500ft just east of highway 167 and traffic IB/OB to Boeing flying just over the highway or a little west of it, and finally a lot of traffic flying east-west just under the bravo shelf around 1500ft.  ADSB is a nice thing to have in the area. 
\

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14 hours ago, johncuyle said:

I'm based at AWO.  Depending on what you want AWO may be a better fit than S50.  In an Acclaim the ability to go straight into climb without avoiding SEA Bravo on VFR can be really nice.  Getting out from under SEA's airspace from S50 is a pain unless you're going east or maybe south.  Most people have covered it, BFI costs a fortune, RNT has an eternal wait, PAE is the only really viable option, everything else is really inconvenient.  I'm on the wait list at Paine, have been for about two years.  The wait was allegedly about two years long when I got on and I'm currently about three years out (not a typo, turnover seems to have dropped off.)  You might want to check into Carrera Hangars and some of the other private lease options at Arlington.  I got in on a month's notice at a price comparable to PAE at $375 a month for an enclosed hangar, insulated with power and air, lots of storage space.  Much nicer than the hangar I'll eventually have at Paine.  Plus the power lets me preheat (got a wifi hotspot and a wifi connected outlet which I can switch on remotely) and keep the plane on a battery minder.

If you haven't already, check out the FATPNW group on Facebook.  There's an extremely large and active aviation community up here, full of great people.

I considered AWO, but it's a longer commute than I'd prefer.  Auburn is 27 miles (shows 32 mins with no traffic), Arlington is 42 (47 mins with no traffic).  I'll call and check on availability though, because I'd much rather be in an enclosed hangar.  Are you on the wait list for all hangar types at Paine?  I had to pay $500 ($100/type) to get on the list for each type, but that's refundable.  If it's really 5 years across all types, that would be very disappointing.

Thanks for the tip on FATPNW...I wasn't aware of that group.

 

12 hours ago, FlyingAg14 said:

I live in downtown Seattle as well but currently just have a tie down at BFI for my M20F.  I like only being 15 minutes from my plane and I have managed to fly almost every week including during the winter.  S50 is a great place for social aviation as johncuyle mentioned join FATPNW (Flights above the pacific north-west) The founder and headquarters is at S50 in the north enclosed hangers. On FATPNW there is a long list of fly-ins this summer that will make it easy for you to explore the area. 

Do pay close attention around S50 though, there's lots of traffic in the area.  To the east is one of the main training areas for the local flight schools, just north of the field traffic IB/OB to RNT usually flying around 2000-2500ft just east of highway 167 and traffic IB/OB to Boeing flying just over the highway or a little west of it, and finally a lot of traffic flying east-west just under the bravo shelf around 1500ft.  ADSB is a nice thing to have in the area. 
\

Any idea about the hangar availability at BFI?  I have called 3 times now and can't get a callback.  I've heard from some say they're can't be had, but some say they're readily available (and expensive).  I am ADSB out, and the traffic capability is huge in busy airspace.  Thank you for the info!

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3 hours ago, aggiepilot04 said:

I considered AWO, but it's a longer commute than I'd prefer.  Auburn is 27 miles (shows 32 mins with no traffic), Arlington is 42 (47 mins with no traffic).  I'll call and check on availability though, because I'd much rather be in an enclosed hangar.  Are you on the wait list for all hangar types at Paine?  I had to pay $500 ($100/type) to get on the list for each type, but that's refundable.  If it's really 5 years across all types, that would be very disappointing.

Thanks for the tip on FATPNW...I wasn't aware of that group.

 

Any idea about the hangar availability at BFI?  I have called 3 times now and can't get a callback.  I've heard from some say they're can't be had, but some say they're readily available (and expensive).  I am ADSB out, and the traffic capability is huge in busy airspace.  Thank you for the info!

I'm just signed up for the old T hangars.  The new T's aren't too expensive, but I'm not on the list for them.  The wait is supposed to be shorter.  Not sure how current the hangar information page is:  https://painefield.com/162/Hangar-Information

BFI claimed to have hangars available last time I managed to get through to someone.  Ancient, keeps most of the water and light out (maybe) T's for $1500 a month.  I've only talked to a few people that have planes based there and they're all in partnerships, which makes the cost less brutal.  BFI is incredibly convenient, but much like Renton it seems an awful lot like they don't want GA there.  On that note, hopefully Paine doesn't get worse when they introduce passenger service.  This region never should have closed down Bellevue, they should have expanded it.  There's too much demand for a real GA airport between S50 and PAE already.  If PAE becomes less friendly to GA, it'll be between S50 and AWO, and neither of them are particularly convenient basing options.

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4 hours ago, aggiepilot04 said:

Any idea about the hangar availability at BFI?  I have called 3 times now and can't get a callback.  I've heard from some say they're can't be had, but some say they're readily available (and expensive).  I am ADSB out, and the traffic capability is huge in busy airspace.  Thank you for the info!

$1500 as johncuyle said sounds about right for BFI. 

Also since your an Aggie you should join the Western Washington A&M group on Facebook.  We have football watch parties in SLU during the fall and try to have happy hours in different spots around downtown once a month. 

 

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