Possibly moving to CA. Around Davis

This is RV related, I swear?

There is a 90% chance I will be moving to somewhere around Davis, CA in the summer. I should know 100% by the end of February.

I?m looking for information from those who know the area.

What airports are GA friendly?
- Can I finish up the RV7 on the airport? (see, it is RV related)
- Have hangars available or short wait list?
- Perhaps a decent flight school or affordable rental airplanes?
- Costs? Hangar, fuel, ?.

(long shot) Any airparks in the area?

Commuting:
I would like to keep the commute to Davis as short as possible, yet still have a reasonable commute to San Jose if I need to. (I?m not sure what reasonable is yet, or if I need to at all)

How is traffic in this area? Say?
- Between Fairfield and Davis?
- Between Fairfield and San Jose?

I have a lot of other questions but most are not relevant to RV?s or flying. But if anyone wants to offer up any tidbits of info on the area, communities, etc., I?m all ears.


Thanks,

I would call all of the local airports (Nut Tree, Davis) GA friendly. I do not know the hangar status.
Commuting at rush hour from anywhere to San Jose is horrible. Get the RV finished, fly to Reid Hillview in San Jose. San Jose International is not GA friendly (ramp fee, security fee).

The Yolo County Davis-Woodland-Winters airport (KDWA)is a nice little place. Can't say for 100% sure about hangar availability or use restrictions but there are lots of hangars on the field. 15 minute drive to downtown Davis.

Rio Vista airport (O88) is a little further east and south of Davis but sort of cuts the distance to San Jose a bit.

Watts Woodland airport (O41) is a little north of davis. Maybe a 20-25 minute drive.

Nut Tree airport (KVCB) is a bit west of davis. Lots of GA activity there. Maybe 20-25 minutes away straight up the freeway.

As for commuting?
Davis area to San Jose will be a bear.
Davis to Fairfield won't be as bad. Its only about 30 miles and if the freeway is totally stopped up there are enough country roads everywhere to get where you are going.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/member.php?u=2472

Lars is based at University Davis.

And Brant is at Nut Tree.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/member.php?u=16773

They should be good sources to ask.

The commute stuff will be a lot more than I would care to endure

Airpark-------seems there was one started at one of the local airports, Woodland Watts IIRC, but I have no idea of its status.

Anyway, welcome to the left coast.

Thanks for the responses so far.
If I need to commute by car, I think I'm screwed. But, by air... . Might have to find an RV3.

Does the weather in the area actually support a (almost) daily commute by air? I'm familiar with the typical San Francisco and coastal fog, but does it generally extends far enough inland to limit flying days up the valley and in San Jose?


I did some looking at the suggested airports and they do indeed look GA friendly. My biggest concern is if they allow construction in the hangars. The two airports nearest to me do not allow it, or any maintenance in the hangars. Guess I'll have to make some phone calls.

I live in Davis, I'm based at KDWA, have a hangar there with my RV-7 living in it- in fact I built it there. Very GA friendly, among other things. Might even be able to help with an RV-3

PM me.

Oh yeah, and my wife is Dutch, we were married there, in fact. So we have something in common

I lived in Fairfield, 83-90. I recall one winter we went 40 some days without seeing the sun. 83-87 I was stationed at Mare Island and froze our butts off even though it never got below 32. 87-90, I commuted from Fairfield to Livermore Labs. I think it was 58 miles, some days I could make the I-680 trip in <1hr. Other times it took 2-3hrs.

Good luck

Brian, that was 20 years ago. Traffic is much worse now.
Commuting by air is possible if you are instrument rated. Coastal stratus comes inland often enough in the winter that vfr is not always possible.
You will need a WAAS enabled gps to get into KRHV reliably.

Hi Jeff,
All the airports that have been listed are certainly good places to be, with maybe the exception of Rio Vista, it's a ghost town and windy most of the time. I'm at the Nut Tree and we have 10 various RV's on the field and most have been built here. I do know there are currently 2 hangars the county cannot find renters for. They say you can't build or do MX, but it's kind of a don't ask don't tell situation. Our current airport manager is a great guy and doesn't harass anyone. We do have a 141 flight school and several rental airplanes also.
As far as commuting by air, it is very doable. I have a friend that commutes almost daily to the south bay. Out of the past several years, the average days he cannot is about 30 days.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Cheers

At KDWA (just west of Davis) the EAA Chapter 52 has a hangar that they rent out to builders on a temporary basis (usually a year or less). It could provide a temporary home for your aircraft. There are a few builders there, including myself, and a bunch of other good folks. Long runway and lots of farm fields in the vicinity, so the FAA really likes this airport for flight testing.

As a data point,
I drove from Livermore to KDWA today.
Took me 1+40 to get there with zero traffic encountered. I was moving at the limit the entire trip but I was going the anti-commute direction. If you were going from the Davis area to San Jose you would add another 20-ish minutes under similar traffic conditions.

jcaplins said:

What airports are GA friendly?
- Can I finish up the RV7 on the airport? (see, it is RV related)
- Have hangars available or short wait list?
- Perhaps a decent flight school or affordable rental airplanes?
- Costs? Hangar, fuel, ?.

Click to expand...

Most with the exception of Sacramento International (KSMF). Others have mentioned nearby Davis airports but they left out KEDU, the actual Davis airport. You can pretty much build at them, "don't ask don't tell" for some. Inquire about specific airports. Hangars do not often come available generally, inquire for specifics. KEDU has what's considered the best and cheapest flight school, Cal Aggies Flying Farmers. I'm sure hangars are more expensive than in many places in the USA but cheaper than the SF Bay Area or SoCal

(long shot) Any airparks in the area?

Click to expand...

Cameron Park, east of Sacramento in the foothills, and Woodland-Watts airport sort of.

There are 3 or 4 active RV builders/flyers just in Davis itself and many more in the greater Sacto area. Nice RV club, SacRVators.

Thanks again to everyone. Your responses have been very helpful.