T82 Fredericksburg Texas

cowtowner

cowtowner

Line Up and Wait
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Oct 7, 2009
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Cowtowner
Have always wanted to fly in, we’ve been many times in the car, but never by air

Flew down early Saturday morning, 1:54 flight time with a big head wind. Once we arrived had a big breakfast at the diner on site.

Took an Uber into town ($15.00 for 4 miles) and spent the rest of the morning shopping on the main drag and visiting the church and the museum.

My sister in law and her boyfriend spent 2 hours driving up from San Antonio (lots of traffic) and met us for lunch for some good German food and beer. We spent the afternoon at the Pacific War museum.

By then I needed a nap and we headed back to the Hangar Hotel

Headed back this morning with a good tailwind and 1:23 time in the air.

will head back when it’s cooler out and probably rent a car next time as the Uber’s were expensive and usually a 20-30 minute wait.
 

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looks like a nice place. Is there much GA traffic there?
 
I fly into T82 several times a year and enjoy lunch at the Airport Diner. On several occasions, with my wife, we've taken ride-share into town for a delightful day. Fredericksburg can be very busy as it's quite a destination now with many fine restaurants, unique shops and a large number of wineries.

T82 is one of the busier non-towered GA aerodromes I've experienced, especially during the lunch period. Some small jets as there are quite a few vacation/weekend homes in the area. ADS-B traffic on ForeFlight helps. Large ramp and a great runway. (tips: right traffic for 15. Keep your calls concise and cut the chatter please. In other words, it's a busy pattern and don't hog the channel! LOL)

We use ride-share despite the wait and cost. I call the ride early so it isn't much of a wait. Parking can be quite challenging. That's why we don't rent a car. We get dropped off at the north end of Main Street and spend hours slowly working our way south. We usually don't stay overnight but have stayed at some very nice B&Bs. We've never stayed at the Hangar Hotel but it really is awesome. The bar is decorated to resemble a 1940s officers club.

https://www.facebook.com/TheHangarHotel/
https://www.facebook.com/airportdiner/

Not affiliated, just like to share info about a great destination.
 
Next time you go and have a reasonable block of time, check out the National Museum of the Pacific War. It’s fantastic. Unlike many museums which are just collections of “old stuff”, that one tells a story - actually, many stories - with artifacts as well as very well-done AV. There are actually several different areas to see and all are worthwhile but the George Bush building is the most comprehensive.

As for GA traffic, AKBill, it’s mostly on the weekends and even then rarely extreme. The diner is cute and popular. The Hangar Hotel, next door, is cute to walk through as well. And if you’re able to sneak into them via the door in the diner by the restrooms, the conference/event rooms are really fun. The biggest, which you walk into, is like the outside of a World War II era movie theater. Walk through it and you’re in a bar/lounge from the same era in Hawaii.
 
We are based at a very busy non towered airport so the traffic at T82 didn’t seem too bad.
 
AKBill said:
looks like a nice place. Is there much GA traffic there?
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They hold a decent number of aviation gatherings there, you might check before you go. I have never seen zero tiedowns but it can be a very busy ramp on weekends.
The pattern traffic; always been able to extend or circle a few times to fit in.
Used to have inlaws there so my plane gets there herself, knows the way.
 
watch out for me beebopping with a wingman at a leisurely 360-400ktGS at 500 feet from the deck, 4 NM south of that field between oh say 0800 and 1700, M-F. Other than that, pretty quiet during the week :D

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Have been there two times pre-Covid. Place was always full and both times I landed just in time for the last tie down as morning breakfast was wrapping up. Unfortunately BOTH times I was securing the aircraft, those around me and directly behind engine started in position and blasted me. DEFINITELY want to secure all control surfaces at that field, they didn't have the courtesy to pull their rig out of the tie down by hand as to not prop blast their neighbors:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
I’m there every Wednesday for work, but the diner is closed Wednesdays. German food downtown is great. The Nimitz museum is nice as well. They need more courtesy cars!
 
hindsight2020 said:
watch out for me beebopping with a wingman at a leisurely 360-400ktGS at 500 feet from the deck, 4 NM south of that field between oh say 0800 and 1700, M-F. Other than that, pretty quiet during the week :D

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You said 4NM south. Have you run VR 143, about 10 NE, just north of Sandy Creek? Have seen some T38’s apparently running that when low-level in the gyro over there. Got my attention…
 
Llewtrah381 said:
You said 4NM south. Have you run VR 143, about 10 NE, just north of Sandy Creek? Have seen some T38’s apparently running that when low-level in the gyro over there. Got my attention…
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Of course, every week. I don't even need the chart anymore, I can fly it by memory lol. We own it (scheduling authority). Our first turn once in the low level is just past enchanted rock, so it's a bit of a high hazard area as folks like to go do the air photography thing or do laps around that thing in the evenings or mornings (low sun angle). Let's just say an F-5 sized nose-on profile and 400+ closure below the ground clutter pointing at you is not conducive to see and avoid, especially when you're staring at a big rock on the ground or taking pictures.

Fortunately the C model has TCAS, which is a godsend for us since this thing lacks an AA radar, but for the folks not squawking, TCAS don't help. There's a reason the MTRs are painted on sectionals; most people presume those corridors to be empty. Bad assumption.

We also try to aid the GA relations by broadcasting ADSB, so the flying public can pick us up. Easy to do really, given that speed profile would generally be associated with targets at airliner altitudes, not 500AGL.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Of course, every week. I don't even need the chart anymore, I can fly it by memory lol. We own it (scheduling authority). Our first turn once in the low level is just past enchanted rock, so it's a bit of a high hazard area as folks like to go do the air photography thing or do laps around that thing in the evenings or mornings (low sun angle). Let's just say an F-5 sized nose-on profile and 400+ closure below the ground clutter pointing at you is not conducive to see and avoid, especially when you're staring at a big rock on the ground or taking pictures.

Fortunately the C model has TCAS, which is a godsend for us since this thing lacks an AA radar, but for the folks not squawking, TCAS don't help. There's a reason the MTRs are painted on sectionals; most people presume those corridors to be empty. Bad assumption.

We also try to aid the GA relations by broadcasting ADSB, so the flying public can pick us up. Easy to do really, given that speed profile would generally be associated with targets at airliner altitudes, not 500AGL.
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Oops - F-5 - mybad

Glad y’all squawk ADS-B. That’s one thing I’ve noticed going cross-country: I can hear ATC talking to military guys and most times they’re invisible on ADS-B to me (the Ronins around Ft Hood are the exception).

I definitely need to pay more attention to the VRs in the gyro!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Dan don't forget the North end, usually more tiedowns there! (cheaper gas too)
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That is strange. $1.00 difference from midfield to the north end. Was just going to fly home with the 32 gallons I had in the tank but then saw the cheap fuel so I shut down and filled up

The price on foreflight was the mid field location.
 
I live near Austin, so this is a fairly short flight for us.

As far as staying there, I would not stay at the hangar hotel unless there was an event going on. It's expensive and it gets boring! The bar at the hotel closes early, the diner is only for breakfast and lunch. We were there to enjoy the town, so we started just staying in town. There is a place called Bed & Brew where you can walk down from your room to Fredericksburg Brewery and have good beer and good food. It's a little noisy in your room if there's a live band playing, so more reason to just enjoy the band! BTW, I see a lot of people talking about Uber. We take a taxi and it's $10.
 
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