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Vegas trip - which airport?

airguy

Unrepentant fanboy
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One night next week - Henderson or North Las Vegas? I've already heard that McCarran is NOT the place you want to be unless you burn lots of Jet A on somebody elses credit card.
 
I've been to Henderson several times, easy access to the main part of town. There's a good restaurant there too. I fly from Phoenix area so I avoid all of the Bravo airspace, I hear N.Las Vegas is nice. If you fly from the North maybe that's your airport. You are right, stay away from McClaren in our planes.
 
LAS is worth going to one time if you want to park at Atlantic and get a photo of your plane with the Strip in the background.

I generally recommend avoiding the Bravo airports however... they aren't really GA maintenance friendly when you have an event and it's an ordeal to get a MX out on the ramp.

I recommend HND over VGT because HND has better Strip access and you're 5x more likely to get shot in the neighborhood where VGT is. HND is a nice area of town, although the Raiders headquarters is right across the street so maybe 2x of getting shot at HND.

All the cool kids are out at BVU, but its a hike to get to the Strip from there.
 
Just an FYI that with the pro bowl in Vegas next weekend it may be nearly impossible to find parking anywhere.
 
interesting experiance at KLAS

Back around 2005 I had occasion to go into KLAS and was able to arrange space ahead of time in an FBO's large executive hangar for a couple of days. As I recall they didn't charge much (maybe nothing?) since it was an unusual request for a little plane like mine and it took up no space in the hangar compared to everything else in there, they just tucked it in a corner. Probably not something you would find now but it was pretty nice then.

Coming in to land was an experience, the tower told me to make best speed as there were airliners lined up behind me - clearly they didn't know how fast an RV can go (turns out, they didn't even know what an RV-6 was) and they ended up having to offset me to the parallel runway due to a 737 still waiting to take off when I got close.

Kinda fun but probably better to go to Henderson or another place more GA friendly these days. I also spent some time at Henderson, in a friendly RV guy's hangar.
 
I’m kinda sad to hear the lack of love for VGT.. I always kinda felt HND had their nose stuck up in the air at us little planes.. they seem snobby, while VGT seemed more friendly to me.. As for the Bravo airspace.. the Cortez VFR route is easy and fun!
 
My schedule is easy, just trying to get to a spot close to there and a night in Vegas sounded like fun. Been about 15 years since I was there last. I might move it up to Thursday night this week since we're getting slammed with a mean cold front here in west Texas and everything will be hunkered down anyway. As long as I'm not stepping on Probowl dates hotels and rent cars shouldn't be a problem.
 
I too prefer HND, been to both. If it is saturated, look at Laughlin, NV. It’s a fun small town with casinos.
 
Vegas is a frequent weekend destination for us and we used to do Henderson when there was a free shuttle, but switched to VGT when that went away. Been going into VGT now for 10+ years. We also stay on Freemont now so the ride to the hotel is short and cheap.
 
Taltruda hooked me up for my visit a couple years ago at VGT. Easy Uber to the strip I thought and pretty good GA vibe.
Only complaint was after staying in a private hangar I taxied to the FBO to fill my O2 and was charged a ramp fee in addition to filling my O2, guess I should’ve walked on the taxiway. I had also topped my tanks when I landed, didn’t meet the minimum gallons and also payed a ramp fee. I suppose it is Vegas….

Loved the trip and it’s totally worth doing.
 
Just an FYI that with the pro bowl in Vegas next weekend it may be nearly impossible to find parking anywhere.

You can always go to Jean, lol. BVU has plenty of tiedowns... it's always funny to see the jets that can make it into the 4000ft runway in the tiedowns that don't want to pay HND or VGT.
 
Taltruda hooked me up for my visit a couple years ago at VGT. Easy Uber to the strip I thought and pretty good GA vibe.
Only complaint was after staying in a private hangar I taxied to the FBO to fill my O2 and was charged a ramp fee in addition to filling my O2, guess I should’ve walked on the taxiway. I had also topped my tanks when I landed, didn’t meet the minimum gallons and also payed a ramp fee. I suppose it is Vegas….

Loved the trip and it’s totally worth doing.

I have the ability to fill Oxygen now too..
 
“When flying to Vegas, always top your tanks as soon as you land. When you’re flat busted or someone’s calling in a marker you got full tanks and no delays” - Phil Barrett, founder of West Texas Airport as he fueled my airplane and asked where I was headed. May both Phil and West Texas Airport Rest In Peace
 
Greg,

I don’t have any direct experience flying into Vegas. It was always faster and less expensive to travel commercially when I visited my son’s family when he was based at Nellis.

One of the things I did while in town was to take my grandson to the restaurant at the terminal at VGT. It’s on the second floor. It was very impressive for a five year old. Many aircraft models hanging from the ceiling and great food. They also have an outdoor observation deck to plane watch.

Since I wasn’t a resident, I can’t directly speak to the getting shot comments. My grandson had several of his physical therapy clinics that were adjacent to the airport. All I can say is that I never felt uncomfortable or at risk while in the area.

Bob
 
“When flying to Vegas, always top your tanks as soon as you land. When you’re flat busted or someone’s calling in a marker you got full tanks and no delays” - Phil Barrett, founder of West Texas Airport as he fueled my airplane and asked where I was headed. May both Phil and West Texas Airport Rest In Peace

That was a (mostly) glider strip out in El Paso about twenty years ago, wasn't it? I remember landing there for fuel once, shortly after I got my pilots license in '99.
 
I haven't been to HND or VGT in real life but did plenty in the sim. If I fly in at night, I will want to get the bravo transition from HND to VGT and fly over the strip at low altitude to enjoy all the light show below.
 
I've only flown into VGT, $15 per night tie down with no handling fee. It has been an easy airport to fly into and a cool benefit if you are flying in IFR is your plane is shown on the arrival screen. Kind of fun to see.
 

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Never had a handling fee at VGT. Tie downs is all I've paid, and one night is waived with a 20 gallon fuel purchase (keep the reciept - they check!)
 
We've always had a good time at Boulder. It is particularly "RV Friendly" :).

(fist bump to Dula)...
 
EAA 1300 meets in HND and hes members with hangars there.

EAA 1300
Henderson, NV
President: Robert Jones
[email protected]

EAA 163 meets at VGT and has members there.

EAA 163
Las Vegas, NV
President: T A Howell
[email protected]


PM me for local info. I live in Vegas. Depending on when you visit might even have a room for you.
 
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