Bay Area Trip

ircphoenix

ircphoenix

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ircphoenix
Hi party people.

Since everyone on this board is amazing, informative, and has a lot more experience than I, I am starting yet another post asking for info.

My girlfriend's sister is graduating from Cal State East Bay in Hayward next month. The girlfriend was planning on driving up there at godawful early in the morning. I have to work, so I wasn't planning on going with. BUT... I am always looking for an excuse to fly.

So if we're going up (from Los Angeles area) for three days, any recommendations on airports to use or city to stay in? I searched the forums and never came up with anything definitive other than stay away from the Coliseum, and that Livermore is nice for both the airport and the city... but that's a 1.5+ hour BART trip to Hayward. She also wants to do west bay stuff... and I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize that east bay and west bay are still rather significantly separated.

Hayward Exec is the obvious choice, but it looks like some interesting airspace up there. I also am only familiar enough to know that Oakland has a not insignificant crime rate, and I'm assuming Hayward is much the same, so not sure a hotel in that area would be a great plan. But again, I don't know.

Should I just fly to Livermore/Concorde and rent a car? Or is Hayward not that bad? Any pointers would be appreciated.
 
Does your GF's sister have an opinion about the hotel locations in Hayward? I can't speak for Hayward, but Oakland has a worse reputation than it probably deserves. I spent three nights at a hotel a few miles north of KOAK between the Oakland estuary and the freeway. It was fine, although I wouldn't go out walking alone at midnight, but I had a room facing the estuary and not the freeway. :D

I definitely wouldn't drive all the way from Livermore unless I had a good reason.
 
I've stayed in several hotels around KOAK for CAP exercises. While the ones around the airport are very dated, don't believe everything you read about Oakland. I would keep my distance from 14th St., but much of Oakland is quite nice.

FYI, it's a bit far from KOAK, but the nicest hotel in California is in Oakland. The Claremont. There are OK hotels around Lake Merritt, near the airport, Emeryville and Alameda.

I've much less experience in Hayward.

Hayward airspace isn't that bad. Just don't extend your upwind and know the very low bayside pattern altitude. With flight following, neither class C airspace is a concern.

It's a 10 minute flight from Oakland to San Carlos. What's the problem? :)
 
There is a Holiday Inn Express right next to KOAK that is nice and I never felt like I was gonna get mugged...have stayed there several times. OAK is very GA friendly and that would give ya access to Bart to get into San Francisco which is a much better way to go than driving. That would also give ya direct access to rental cars at OAK as well...plus Uber is all over that area.
 
Signature at OAK is REAL close to the rental car facility. Plus they have a pile of crew cars. But fuel is frighteningly expensive.

The closest hotel to the two FBOs is the Hilton. It's closer to Kaiser, not far from the 28R threshold.
 
Funny. Girlfriend was talking about the Hilton. I think there are a few up there... she's also not sure which one she was planning on. LoL. Didn't know how GA friendly Oakland was. And yeah, last time I was up there, I stayed over by SFO... so we just took the BART to downtown. Public transportation up there is way more impressive than the options available down here in LA.

Fuel could be rendered a moot point... if I just stop elsewhere on the way home to fuel up.... or grab enough to make Signature happy on my way back home. But that's all very good info.
 
Let's put it this way. I like to practice night landings at OAK 'cause I can do stop'n'goes. I take CAP instruction there sometimes. And I've taken kids on intro rides several times. It's VERY friendly. It can get busy, and I've witnessed multiple bizjet emergency landings. But the scheduled carriers all use the south field.
 
Why avoid Hayward? It's a nice airport, lots of transportation options, hotels, places to eat. The area is not that bad. You can always rent a car. Close to cal state east bay. The obvious choice. A no brainer.
 
noahfong said:
Why avoid Hayward? It's a nice airport, lots of transportation options, hotels, places to eat. The area is not that bad. You can always rent a car. Close to cal state east bay. The obvious choice. A no brainer.
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I'm totally unfamiliar with the area... but I've heard not so flattering things about Hayward. Those things could be totally off base, but I'm just operating purely from second hand information on the area. If you know better, please, by all means. That's what I created the thread for, and I appreciate any and all input!!
 
noahfong said:
Why avoid Hayward? It's a nice airport, lots of transportation options, hotels, places to eat. The area is not that bad. You can always rent a car. Close to cal state east bay. The obvious choice. A no brainer.
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I only advised about Oakland because I'm much more familiar with it than Hayward.

CSUEB used to be called Cal State Hayward. It's on the opposite side of town from the airport, but I'd think even a cab wouldn't be cost prohibitive.

You hear all kinds of stories about how bad various cities are. Mostly, it would seem, by people who have never been there.
 
I commute to KHWD for work each week. Fine airport. I think the tower does some training so occasionally odd communications. Lots of helicopter and corporate traffic. La Quinta Inn & Suites within walking distance but the FBO can certainly have a rental car for you. PM me if you have any questions about traffic, proximity to Class C and how they prefer to work that, restaurants etc.
One current drawback is the marine layer stays in most the morning, burning off around 10 or so.
 
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I didn't mean to sound critical... just wanted to keep it short.

Hayward is definitely in a working class/ blue collar neighborhood but that does not mean it is unsafe. (Imagine that - an airport where people actually live). I have not heard of anything bad in the news about the airport surrounding area - ever. I echo the hotel recommendation flyingriki made... appears to be a nice hotel just a block away from transient parking. I imagine renting a car from the jet center or the hotel to be pretty easy. If you really wanted, you can make your way to A street (north of Hesperian - one block from the La Quinta) and catch either the 83 or 85 bus to the BART station. There, you can go anywhere, including catching the 60 bus to Cal State. Now, the BART station has had a couple of gang-related shootings (a few years back), just to say. It doesn't bother me much because I grew up in East Oakland and am used to all that. (I used to commute to work everyday via Hayward BART during that time and never saw anything).

Restaurants (Riggatoni's - a local italian fav, Five Guys, fast food) within just a couple of blocks.

Pilots seem intimidated by the class C. Maybe I'm just so used to it I don't notice. Just keep it in mind during your arrival, that's all. Coming from socal, I would just keep east of the San Jose charlie, drop down to 1500 when abeam the Dumbarton bridge, and expect a straight-in.

Hayward finally has self-serve fuel again. Not the cheapest, but no longer the total rip-off it was. I think it runs around $4.50 /gal.

Hope it helps. Good luck!
 
Kaiser at KOAK is a bit steep, but a decent operation. Rental cars, free rides to BART, handling fee waived with enough expensive fuel and not intimidating at all to fly into vs any other Bay Area airport. Spend less time on the highway and land at a full service airport with a good FBO. Grab flight following before Livermore and you'll get walked right in to north field.


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I stayed at the Motel 6 in Oakland for a 49ers game last season. Not normally my cup of tea, but it was free, as my buddy is a district manager for them and had recently spent 18 months remodeling and cleaning up the property. It's on the waterfront near the field. But Emeryville has decent hotels and it is a short ride away with a fair amount of shopping and close to Berkeley or Oakland for nightlife and a quick ferry ride to the city.


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MAKG1 said:
Graduations are today and tomorrow at CSUEB. What did you decide on?
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She decided she wants to be downtown San Francisco. Because of course she did. Her sister graduates Sunday. I decided to stay home. Couldn't have flown anyway. Marine layer down here and no instrument ticket.
 
Oh well. That's why I got my IR. A lot of summer days work that way.

But now that I'm looking for marine layer to practice, it goes away or lifts high enough to make approaches too easy.
 
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