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Flying into
Harris Ranch (3O8) ! |
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Best time of the year to go? |
All year but it does get hot in the
summer. |
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Flight time in a Super Viking from KAJO? |
1.4 |
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Food on the airport? |
Harris Ranch is known for it's beef.
This is a steal lovers kind of place! |
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Fuel on airport? |
Yes |
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Comments about arriving and departing |
The runway is very narrow and the
soil sandy. Stay on the runway! |
Rate this trip
10 being best, 5 being average. |
7.5 An easy walk to a very nice
restruant and hotel. |
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Click image
for fly in video !
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Harris Ranch,
you've driven by it before. |
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It's on I-5 somewhere near the halfway point
between San Francisco and Los Angeles. You have may have wondered
what that large pink hotel with tall palm trees is doing out in the middle of no where.
There is a short runway, a gas pump and a windsock (nothing else) right beside
I-5. I too have
always wondered why, when driving I-5 I always plan a meal stop at
Harris Ranch.Flash back to the late '70's. I
was making some money on the side working as a rent a pilot. My
favorite single engine plane to fly was the Bellanca Super Viking
and I always thought I would like to own one but, as an young E-4 in
the in the Air Force it wasn't time yet.
It wasSpring 2004, I hadn't been close to a Bellanca
since 1982 and my flying days were on the back burner. I was driving home from
Oakland with my wife. Like always we stopped and had lunch at Harris
Ranch. As we were leaving we drove by the Harris Ranch airport and
what a what a sight it was, the un-mistakable vertical stabilizers
of 5 Super Vikings on the ramp
and the owners too. I stopped in the grassy area near the gate and
just looked. All of these Vikings were gorgeous and in like new
condition. I wanted to say something to the pilots but all I could
come up with was that I was a Wantabe or Has Been thing so I
remained quiet.
The bug had bitten! Driving the rest of the
way home all I could think about were those Super Vikings at Harris
Ranch. As soon as I got home I went to the Internet and found Tom's
Bellanca Super Viking web site and read it end to end. I got my
medical current and started looking for a good FBO. Within 60 days
everything was current and surprised my wife with a fly-in breakfast
one Saturday morning in a rental Warrior.
Within a few months I was looking for a Super
Viking to purchase.
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