Recommendations for Socal (KCRQ) - El Paso (KELP) - Enid (KWDG)

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AndyWW

Filing Flight Plan
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Jan 11, 2022
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AndyWW
Hi everyone,

I'm a British pilot with an American wife staying for a couple of months in Oceanside CA. I'm hoping to rent a Piper Arrow and fly myself from Carlsbad (KCRQ) to visit my son in Enid OK (KWDG) starting on 31st Jan. I've pretty much decided to route via El Paso to avoid the high mountains, but will need stops along the way for fuel and an overnight.

I've got SkyDemon (British equivalent of Foreflight) on my phone which should keep me out of trouble but it doesn't have much in the way of recommendations for the best GA-friendly airfields or places to stay. If anyone has any local knowledge or experience of this route I'd be very happy to read your thoughts, both with respect to the best watering holes and any weather tips.

I plan to use flight following as much as possible. I've flown a lot in California where it's readily available. I haven't flown anywhere else in the US so I'm also interested to learn whether I should expect to be able to get FF on the whole route and if so from whom.

Thanks in advance,
Andy
 
expat here.. based in Vegas with a pa28 and frequently make a similar trip - weather dependent, I take the Southern route via ELP, or the 'middle' route through ABQ; for the ELP route, I stop in either KCGZ or E95 for fuel, then either ELP itself or just before in KLRU. FF available throughout, but (depending on your altitude) there are swathes of the New Mexico emptiness that you won't hear ATC for 15/20 minutes. As to the GA friendly question, coming from the UK, ALL airports in the USA are friendly...
 
KAVQ (Marana AZ) and KRYN (Ryan Field, west of Tucson) have nice coffee shops and convenient fuel. E95 (Benson AZ) has cheap fuel, but you need to drive into town for food. That's a plus if Roy's courtesy car is available, a cool '55 Dodge Coronet with "three on the tree".

The coffee shop at KCZG (Casa Grande AZ) is closed now. That whole area between Stanfield VORTAC and KCGZ is crazy-busy with student traffic on practice instrument approaches.

I've heard the restaurant at KLRU (Las Cruces NM) is good, but I was there on a Monday, and they're closed on Mondays.

KSEZ (Sedona AZ) is a great stop - spectacular scenery and a decent restaurant on field. KPAN (Payson AZ) is popular with locals, too.
 
Thank you very much to both of you.

I'm currently thinking of an overnight stop at Roswell Air Center. Is that an ok idea or is there a better alternative nearby?
 
I did that route to El Paso from Bakersfield CA. We had contact with FF for the majority of the trip at 9500 feet. There’s no a whole lot of scenery to extra altitude is fine.

If El Paso approach gives you the vectors around the mountain between the border, that’s a cool experience.
 
Think there might be a better choice than Roswell regarding fuel, courtesy car, nearby motels. Unless you’re into space aliens. Usually the smaller west texas towns have cheaper gas, courtesy cars and nearby motels. Try Brownfield, Tx (KBFE), you can use car overnight.
 
FF is pretty readily available anywhere in the US - they want you to be talking to them when you are in their airspace. Phoenix used to an an exception, but they are much better about it now - especially if you're a transient in their airspace.
 
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