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Auburn2002

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Auburn2002
Cross posting from AOPA:

We're flying to Birmingham this Saturday to return Sunday so the wife can see Garth Brooks. We're staying near the UAB campus and the concert is downtown at the BJCC, so I'm planning to fly into KBHM. I see that there is an Atlantic Aviation East FBO and an Atlantic Aviation West, on either side of the airport. Is any one better than the other for easy egress to downtown?

How are cabs up there? Easily available or a pain in the rear? I was originally not wanting to deal with a rental car, but got an online quote from Enterprise for 30 bucks which is probably cheaper than cab fare to and from the airport anyway. Hopefully if I go that route Enterprise will be able to leave the car at the FBO for me, instead of having to get a ride to the terminal.

Last question, this part not aviation related - for anyone familiar with the city, if we're staying near UAB and going to the concert at the BJCC, would you suggest driving and parking (if we have a car), cab, or walk? Looks to be about 1.5 miles. I'm thinking maybe we could walk it there, but may not want to walk back late after the show.
 
You can walk it during the day. Your walk takes you right through the business district. Downtown B-Ham gets interesting at night... I avoided it the six months I was working down there.
 
Additional info, in response to mikeinbama over on AOPA:

I figured if it's anything like Mobile some areas are just fine to walk around, others are far from it...and with 1.5 miles to cover from hotel to the concert, odds are high that it's not 100% good spots in between.

I looked briefly at EKY and EET, but both a little further than I'd prefer but if we do end up with a rental car maybe the difference in driving time is negligible and would be offset by ~10 minute shorter flight time, plus probably over that in taxi time at KBHM. But, there is also the appeal of going for convenience since it is already such a short trip. Decisions, decisions.
 
BTW, I used the West FBO when I was there. Great service. Fuel was EXPENSIVE! Something like $3 higher than I was used to seeing. ($7.50 a gallon when I had been paying in the mid 4s.)
 
I would catch a cab both ways, that's not the best part of town to be walking around. It's getting much better, still not great yet.
 
I flew into KBHM and went to Atlantic East. Nice FBO, nice people, easy to get downtown from there, but I never tried it from the West FBO. Fuel was about a dollar higher than my home field at the time.
 
Yeah, fuel right now is showing $6.01 so while not cheap, I'm surprised it's not higher. Plus I'm paying a wet rate and that's still cheaper than KBFM where we store the planes, so even the fuel price has no impact. Plus the whole point of flying is to save time and make the trip more convenient, so I'm settled on KBHM. Now just to pick an FBO. I think they're both probably fine, though per Google Maps the West FBO is a full 3 miles/5 minutes closer to the hotel. Not a big difference any way you look at it, so I guess it comes down to ground transportation and whether I'll rent a car or cab it from the airport.

Eboschung said:
I would catch a cab both ways, that's not the best part of town to be walking around. It's getting much better, still not great yet.
Click to expand...

Thanks, good tip. What about airport to hotel, any thoughts on whether that's worth having a rental waiting at the FBO, or just cab it there too?
 
It's tomorrow! But thanks.

Also, amazing what you can learn when you pick up the phone. I called our hotel to get an idea of cab fare, turns out they have a shuttle that runs to the terminal, but will pick us up at (either) Atlantic Aviation also. We'll either call from the cell phone on our way in or call the FBO over VHF to see if they can give them a ring and hopefully not have to wait too long.

Still undecided on West vs. East FBO now, but not sure it really matters at this point. West is closer to the hotel so it'd be easier if we're they're only pickup, East is closer to the main terminal which would make it easier if they have to pickup at the terminal also. Probably come down to a coin toss.
 
Auburn2002 said:
Thanks, good tip. What about airport to hotel, any thoughts on whether that's worth having a rental waiting at the FBO, or just cab it there too?
Click to expand...


Give Atlantic West a call, it is the easier one to get to right now with runway 18/36 closed, I believe they do enterprise rentals there from the desk.

I don't really know what cab fares run around here but I'm thinking cab both ways to the airport and BJCC will probably start adding up to about the same price as a 24 hour rental. The area around UAB where you are staying is decent, there are a good many good eating places around there if you just didn't want to deal with a car.

Uptown near the BJCC has some good places to eat and drink. The Southern Kitchen has good food and a fast bartender.
 
Just an update, we had an easy time in and out, and a great trip overall.

18/36 is not closed at KBHM currently - we landed and departed on 24, but 18 was in use both Saturday and Sunday.

Went to Atlantic West - very convenient, hotel shuttle picked us up promptly - next time though I think I would do Atlantic East so I can combine it with a trip through the aviation museum next door.

As for downtown B'ham, we were informed of the Blue Line trolley that ran right in front of the hotel to the BJCC for a $0.25 fare, but when we got on they were not taking money at all I guess due to the events going on in the city, so we had a weekend worth of transportation for only the cost of a couple of shuttle bus driver tips. Glad I didn't try to mess with a rental.

Found that Uptown area before the concert, enjoyed many a beer from The Southern who had a beer cart set up outside. I really wanted to eat there, but we ate earlier to make sure we weren't gonna get screwed...smart idea as I heard comments of 2 hour waits to get tables in many of the restaurants there.

In hindsight we want to try to go back and do more concerts there, but I think next time I'll spring for a room closer to the arena/Uptown like at the Sheraton or the Westin.

Fuel at KBHM was $6.01, steep but still cheaper than $6.70 at KBFM where the club plane lives, so that's a win for the club bank account in the end.

Had one oops moment where I forgot to call clearance delivery prior to ground when departing KBHM, but I suspect that's pretty common. I'm used to flying out of a tower-controlled airport, just not a class C one.

Interesting side note, when we got to Mobile Downtown Saturday to depart, there were Mobile police and Secret Service all over. While pre-flighting and startup/taxi out, a C-37 landed and several ladies walked off the plane. Found out later Austal shipbuilding was coronating the USS Gabrielle Giffords Saturday, and she and Jill Biden were coming in for that. Not sure if it was just one or both of them walking off the C-37, but I'm just glad they aren't enough to warrant shutting down the airport completely.

Thanks for all the tips guys!
 
Glad you had a good trip, I read in the paper where the concert went pretty long into the night.

Oh yeah Roll Tide
 
Haha, thanks. He did two shows Saturday night, we went to the early one. I was glad when I saw the mass of people waiting to get into the later show since ours ran late, but I do think the later show got a longer set. Was still a good show either way.
 
We saw Garth at Rupp Arena in LexKY last fall, one of the best shows I've seen!
 
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