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My Q200 followed by Gordy Jones'
LongEZ Jim
Patillo with Merced Award
N200QK heading for the
Golden Gate - July 8th, 2006
Another good reason to
visit the San Francisco Bay Area this summer
Jim Patillo
and I are planning the Sixth Annual Tandem Wing Flyin at
Livermore Airport (LVK) in northern California
(near San Francisco) on August 18-19, 2006. All
tandem wings airplanes, owners, builders, and
"I got to get me one of those" people
are invited. The flyin will get started on
Friday afternoon and evening with a no-host
dinner at Beeb's Restaurant on the field starting
at about 6:00 pm. In 2005 about 30 people made it
to the Friday night dinner. We'll get going
again at hangar 113 at 10:00 am on Saturday
and go until the last person gives up. There
will be an informal Sunday
breakfast for people who are interested. This is an
informal flyin aimed at getting to know some of the names
you've seen in Q-Talk and on the Q-List. There will be rides, lots of talk about these
birds, and a late
afternoon and evening BBQ on the Northeast
side of the airport. We will have 8
local "Q's" in attendance. Jim
Patillo's Oshkosh Lindy winning Q200,
Alan Thayer's Q2/Jabiru3300 and his Quickie with the new
carbon spar, Mark Summers's Q2/O200 (maybe - he's been
transferred), and Brad Olson's Q200 which Brad bought
from Tom Moore. Brad has just completed his panel
modernization. Also on hand will be
Geoff Rutledge's N200AL, and my 500 hour Q200, N200QK. A
new Q200 to Livermore belongs to Wes Isberg. He has been
working on upgrades and is presently beginning taxiing.
We are hoping that Pat Panzera and John Moyle will be
bringing us up to date on the Corvair aircraft engine project. This is a good chance to see
what a 'Vair conversion looks like and sounds like.
Things to do besides talk
about airplanes.
For those who might want to stay and make this
a longer vacation trip, there are several nice
hotels within 1 mile or less of the Livermore
Airport Terminal Building. In addition, for
flying companions, the Bay Area Rapid Transit
system is about 3 miles away in Pleasanton and
can take you quickly to downtown San Francisco
for sight-seeing or shopping. We have
a decent restaurant on the field at the
northwest end called Beeb's which is open for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can taxi there
and park next to it. Also there is a Cattlemen's
restaurant within 1/4 mile of the terminal. Other
local attractions are the wineries.
There are 13 in the Livermore area, including
Wente and Concannon, plus a number of smaller
quality wineries. There is also a very nice muni
golf course right next to the airport. Beeb's
Restaurant is actually at the golf course.
Nearby hotels are:
- Extended Stay America. 2380 Nissen
Drive, Livermore 925-373-1700,
800-398-7829. Kitchens in each room. (.2
mi.). Next door to Cattlemen's
Restaurant. No pool.
- Hampton Inn. 2850 Constitution Drive,
Livermore 925-606-6400, 800-426-7866.
Kitchens in each room. (.5 mi.).
Complimentary breakfast.
- Residence Inn by Marriott. 1000 Airway
Blvd., Livermore 925-373-1800,
800-331-3131. Kitchens in each room. (.6
mi.). Complimentary breakfast, free
shuttle within 5 mi. No pool.
- Comfort Inn. 2625 Constitution Drive,
Livermore 925-606-6200. Complimentary
breakfast (.6 mi).
- Courtyard by Marriott. 2929 Constitution
Drive, Livermore 925-243-1000. (.6 mi.)
Courtyard Cafe on premises.
All of these hotels are very nice and new, and
most have pools. For those who asked, there is no
camping at LVK.
Rental Cars: Call Enterprise
Rent-A-Car at (925) 449-3600. There is an airport
discount available. Use discount #R05430.
Livermore Airport Information
ATIS
119.65 (925)
447-9516
ASOS (925) 606-5412
Ground 121.6
Tower and CTAF 118.1.
On busy days they sometimes run a second tower
frequency for the south side (25L or 7R). Listen
to ATIS to find out if it is active. Tower
operates from 7:00 am to 9:00pm. Runway 25R/7L is
the longer one with lights and an ILS. It is
about 5500 ft long. 25L/7R is not lighted and is
about 2700 feet long. The field elevation is 400
feet MSL and the TPA is 1400. Livermore is just
outside the largest ring of the SFO class B and
has no airline activity - just GA. We have a VERY
large collection of antiques, warbirds, and
homebuilts.
The weather is likely to be severe clear and
pretty warm. August temps can get as high as
95-100 degrees but with low humidity. In 2004, the weather was about 80 degrees and
beautiful. It does cool off some in the
evening. We are close enough to the ocean to get
cool marine air.
San Francisco is about 20 minutes away by Q200
and well worth an air tour (see the picture above). SFO has a class B so
pay attention, but you can see a lot without
penetrating the class B, especially in the North
Bay. South of SFO is pretty clobbered with SUA
because of San Jose and Oakland. The
controllers have been cooperative about
allowing "Bay Tours" inside the class B
if they aren't too busy. There is no official
"Bay Tour" - mostly you just tell them
what you would like to do.
Local Phone Numbers
Farnam: Office (925)
373-9013, Cell (925) 989-5035
Patillo:
Office (510) 505-7800,
Cell (510) 468-4891
North is up in this photo. The
tower, terminal building and the transient
overnight parking is midfield on the north side.
At the extreme northeast corner of the airport
you'll see 4 hangar buildings, 1
shorter than the others, which run
east/west. That is where the Saturday
parking and BBQ will be. We will be using hangars
113 and 114 which are on the east end, south
side of the northernmost
hangar. Tell ground control that
you want to taxi to the northeast hangars, then
look for the taxiway which runs from the north
runup pad for Runway 25R to the northeast
hangars. It's an extension of Taxiway 1. Beeb's
restaurant is at the northwest corner of the
large asphalt tiedown area on the west
side of the tower. You can taxi there and
park temporarily. That's where we'll meet Friday
evening around 6 pm. You can drive there by
taking Airway Blvd south from 580, then turn
right to the golf course. You can drive to
Hangars 113/114 thru the automatic gate at the
extreme northeast corner of the field at the
intersection of Airway and Kittyhawk. We'll try
to monitor the gate to let you in, or you can
just wait for someone to go thru the gate and
follow them. On Saturday, you shouldn't have to
wait long. If you follow Airway Blvd north
over the 580 freeway, you will see the hotel area
on the right just after you cross the freeway.
Give a call if you have questions.
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