Landed Bozeman MT once and just got out to walk around to see whats up. Just out flying around seeing the state. Week later got a 15 dollar landing fee charge in the mail. Never been back never will in the future. Three Forks only 15 miles away. I know when I am not welcome. Dont get mad its there loss. They will never know what a Maule is.

I think that businesses are (and should be!) free to charge whatever they want to charge for their goods and services-- if their market won't stand it, they won't make any sales. What bugs me in this situation is that you have to pay a private enterprise those inflated tie-down and handling fees, on a public airport! IMHO there should be a DIY transient tiedown area on all publicly funded airports, for 5 or maybe 10 ten bucks a night max.

I may as well jump on the band wagon, too.

A few years ago when I was flying in SoCal and decided to do some airport hopping one day. I flew out of Fullerton to Hawthorne. Parked at Million Air to use the bathroom (the only FBO and bathroom on the field that I knew of). On my way out of the FBO, I said thank you and the kid behind the desk said I needed to pay a $25.00 parking fee. I said "Excuse me? I just needed to use the bathroom and we don't have crazy parking fees like that in Idaho!!". The kid was kind enough to let me slide.

Even though Catalina Airport is Private and Open to the Public, I didn't mind paying their $25.00 landing fee. And I would have done the same for the guy that owns Arrowhead Airstrip (damn, wish I bagged that one before they closed it to the public!!).

I agree with not going back where we are not wanted, a negative incentive. But, positive incentives are more effective than negative. Pipeline pilots use airports that have no landing or tie down fee, have a courtesy car, have reasonable fuel prices, have nearby restaurants and motels, and are willing to hanger our aircraft when the weather is bad. I have noticed, at airports where the courtesy car is always almost empty of fuel, that topping the car off every week changes the situation. After just a few weeks, the car seems to be topped off all the time.

Yes, withhold your business from those who are not customer friendly. More importantly, support those FBOs who support you. And top off the courtesy car. City or county owned airports generally have a courtesy car because they can put an old police car out on their fleet insurance. Unfortunately, jerks and shyster lawyers have ended small, private FBOs from having courtesy cars. After getting to drive an old car free, they sue the FBO when the brakes don't work perfectly. I don't know if its parents or lawyers, but in today's culture, we are encouraged to look gift horses, and everything else, in the mouth.

every airport I know of here in So Kal has transient parking... at Gillespie I believe its 7 a night... could be wrong... and I know FBO's have overhead but when you figure it ammounts to 700 a month at 25 a day then that's just gouging...but the handling fee is what floored me,,, that's one I refuse... when I tie down in a spot I expect my plane to be there when I come back and I don't want anyone, least of all some line boy used to pushing around bazillion dollar jets, to lay a finger on it..last time I landed at Vegas a line boy came up and walked around my Maule and asked what kind of plane it was...It says Maule right on the wingtip but I guess that was too obvious... said he never have seen one... asked what it was made of ... I said fuselage covered in fabric.. he was flabergasted... couldn't believe it was fabric... had to show him... so that's why I don't want anyone hitching a tow bar to my ABW tail wheel learning on my plane...

I wonder how long one has to practice the "hey, fork over $25 for parking" before you can sound polished and sincere with eye contact? The riff raff that come to my airport would get the giggles over such a suggestion and would never chance traveling with that kind of money on their person anyway.

I've paid for overnight tie-downs, and I've had landing fees which were waived because I bought gas--never have actually paid a landing fee--and I've certainly had my airplane moved around by ramp rabbits--that's really common. But this is the first time I've ever heard of a "handling fee". Without looking into it, it seems to me that by charging a handling fee, the FBO is increasing their liability when they move an airplane and then damage it--it's almost a guarantee that they will professionally move it. But remember--I'm retired now, so that's definitely not legal advice!

Cary

I as asked to pay a landing fee once. I said show me in the flight guide. They could not so I very politely told them to pound sand.

Tim

so Tim, at the risk of sounding like Michael Corleone, I'm curious... "Who approached you"? It's a guy thing with the Godfather...

We seem blessed with very little of the fee plague here in this neck of the woods.
I remember one stop where i landed the Cub during a developing t-storm and hitched a car ride to the destination. Upon getting back to collect the bird, i found it moved into a private hangar at the bottom of a hill. The locals were worried about the wind and hail so they moved it and left a note at the FBO where to find it, snug as a bug in a rug. Nice!

(I second the Bermuda Dunes advice by the by, if you can find it - at night anyway.. Long story)

hotrod180 wrote:What bugs me in this situation is that you have to pay a private enterprise those inflated tie-down and handling fees, on a public airport! IMHO there should be a DIY transient tiedown area on all publicly funded airports, for 5 or maybe 10 ten bucks a night max.

Exactly. I'll pay if I need the services, but it's rare. The resort airports are the worst--Sun Valley, Eagle, Jackson Hole. Even if you top off and work out an accommodation of some kind, you're still paying a premium for the privilege of parking at a publicly-owned and maintained airport.

There are anti-discrimination provisions in FAA grants that are supposed to prohibit grant recipients from discriminating against different kinds of aircraft and operations. Usually, it's the big boys or specialty commercial operations like skydiving and gliders who pull these out. But how is it that grant recipient airports can eliminate public transient parking and force everyone to pay the ridiculous prices at Atlantic, Signature and the like?

San Jose International used to have reasonable access. Now, they've been so successful in driving out small aircraft that they removed the short runway (29) and are busy building out a huge hangar complex for the ultra rich. McClellan Palomar used to have a half dozen spots near the terminal where you could tie down and go to Lego Land. I'm not sure if those are there any more, but there's absolutely no reason why every public airport shouldn't have similar access. They don't even have to provide ropes if it's too much bother.

It's no big deal if there's a small airport nearby, but a lot of these places don't have competition. If nothing else, you can flame the outrageous operators on Airnav. The current reviews at PSP are all glowing. Let them know how you feel about the rectal exam.

My $.02

CAVU

In Eastern Oregon, some "FBO(s)" don't f--- with anyone from my experience;

At one particular airport for instant (100+ miles from the nearest next fuel gig):

* spend the night on the couch FREE
* crew car FREE just add your own fuel for the trip
* camping FREE
* the word tie down fee is never used just take whatever you see...
* FREE coffee, Cup-O-noodles, etc. Donation requested but not needed
* They do not care if you buy fuel or just stop in

A " backcountry bottom feeder" paradise! I love it.

Coyote wrote:Landed Bozeman MT once and just got out to walk around to see whats up. Just out flying around seeing the state. Week later got a 15 dollar landing fee charge in the mail. Never been back never will in the future. Three Forks only 15 miles away. I know when I am not welcome. Dont get mad its there loss. They will never know what a Maule is.

Thanks for that somewhat surprising heads up, I'd never thought that would happen in Bozeman. In Montana I'm saying, maybe Glacier International but that place is on my shi*t list from when they hosted the Blue Angels, and they totally prohibited GA flights to fly in (many hours before the airspace closed, many many hours before the BA launched) but we were told to land at the old city airport, and they would have a bus shuttle, only $15.00! Plus the ground pounder air show fee! I went elsewhere needless to say.

I've always parked at Arlins when we go to Bozeman. They've always treated us good. We used to go up to Manhatten to a place called Sir Scott's Oasis to eat. If the courtesy van was loaned out to the go fast guys, we'd take Arlin's old chevy pickup, the front filled with rifles and the back with dead animals. Perfect camo for that country. Arlin's was always OK with gas in the pickup and ten a side for the plane. I've heard that the Jet Center down the street is a litlle hoity toity and wouldn't be surprised if they charge a parking fee.

+1 on Arlin's in Bozeman. Never heard of a landing fee there but Arlin's was a nice place to stop. A little fancy for my taste but they treated us OK despite not burning a swimming pool of Jet A.

Landing at Henderson (Las Vegas) was a different experience for this Idaho pilot... They don't get to see fabric airplanes much, but they still treated us like people and we had no issues with them, the overnight fees were clearly explained and they fueled as requested. Though i much prefer the small FBO with an old couch and some coffee, for the most part I think we have been treated pretty well. As always vote with your dollars and leave reviews at airnav.com to let the GA fleet how your experience went.

Landed at West Houston airport a while back to get fuel while passing through, great GA airport but man I felt like a fish out of water! I was parked between 2 brand new Cirrus's, checking those out when I should have been explaining to the lineman I have a nose tank instead of wing tanks. I ended up giving him a little tour of the plane, he had heard of Cub's but never seen one in person. The front desk girl thought there was a mistake when the computer showed I only took 9 gallons, I assured her that was correct and plenty of fuel.

Very nice airport and people staffing the FBO, my Cub was worth probably 5% of any other plane on the ramp but I was treated as good as any of the pilots of those planes. Runway is only 3900 ft, so it keeps the riffraff from the heavies out. A great option if you find yourself heading to Houston.

Our only fbo has gone crazy! $7 gas, did away with locals discount....now if you purchase 2000 gal in a year, you get a 35 cent discount????? $25/nite tie-downs. Ramp is full of biz jets. They are going to tear up/rebuild our runway this Spring to allow more 12,500# plus plane landings. Won't let us land on the grass beside the runway anymore. What's next?

Remembering the good days.
Land at an airport with two or three fbo's and as I taxied off the runway had to make a serious decision.
Three golf carts came driving t'wards me each adorned and driven by a beauty in a bikini and a real 'come hither' smile and welcome.
Chevron, Philips, Exxon, which to choose. It was akin to a bathing beauty contest out on the ramp.
Having made one's choice, you climb out of your trusty Maule onto an adeptly unrolled Red carpet.
Fuel was less than $2, the lounge like a palace with pilot sleep areas, near new courtesy car and all amenities.
The heyday of general aviation, 1978, and no, I'm not dreaming, I'm remembering.
Thousands of light piston craft built and sold each year, now, less than 1000, total.
So, competetive marketing at its best,

jmorgan wrote:Our only fbo has gone crazy! $7 gas, did away with locals discount....now if you purchase 2000 gal in a year, you get a 35 cent discount????? $25/nite tie-downs. Ramp is full of biz jets. They are going to tear up/rebuild our runway this Spring to allow more 12,500# plus plane landings. Won't let us land on the grass beside the runway anymore. What's next?

Are you talking about Heber City?

maules.com wrote:Remembering the good days.
Land at an airport with two or three fbo's and as I taxied off the runway had to make a serious decision.
Three golf carts came driving t'wards me each adorned and driven by a beauty in a bikini and a real 'come hither' smile and welcome.
Chevron, Philips, Exxon, which to choose. It was akin to a bathing beauty contest out on the ramp.
Having made one's choice, you climb out of your trusty Maule onto an adeptly unrolled Red carpet.
Fuel was less than $2, the lounge like a palace with pilot sleep areas, near new courtesy car and all amenities.
The heyday of general aviation, 1978, and no, I'm not dreaming, I'm remembering.
Thousands of light piston craft built and sold each year, now, less than 1000, total.
So, competetive marketing at its best,

You're not dreaming or misremembering. I recall the first vacation trip in our newly purchased 70 Skylane, the summer of 1974. We shot the approach into Grand Island in a light rain and rolled up to the FBO (it's Trego-Dugan now--don't recall the name back then) to be greeted by a college-age girl in hot pants and a snug T-shirt--a real wowser. Wife 1 wasn't too enthralled, but I sure was! Ms. Wowser rolled out a red carpet on the pilot side, which probably irked Wife 1 even more.

Wife 1, the kids, and dog piled out, and Ms. Wowser accompanied us into the FBO, holding an umbrella over me (after all, I was the Captain, right?), and among the amenities was a box of candied nuts for us all to share and biscuits for the pupdog. I don't recall the gas prices, but the service was sure top notch.

Not to disparage Trego-Dugan now, though. No young cuties in hot pants, but the service there is still top notch. Last summer I was delayed leaving OSH by storms, so I called them from Dubuque, as I couldn't get there before 10 p.m., well after closing time. The rampy said he'd be there, and he was. A few days after I got home, I contacted T-D, got his name, and sent him a restaurant gift card as a tip.

Good service should be rewarded; bad or no service should be boycotted, and in today's Interwebby world, spread about for all to see, here, Airnav, and every other flying forum we all participate in.

Cary