Venice Municipal, FL insight?

[tdager]

The wife and I are planing a vacation for the second week of July in Sarasota and want fly our plane down if the weather holds.

I checked AirNav and their appears to be two FBO's: the Venice Jet Center and the Florida Flight Maintenance.

Too be honest, I get a bit turned off by "Jet" in anything, as my simple little 182 does not burn kerosene.

Any insights to the place? It seems the most convenient airport to Sarasota.

BTW...why do done of these people post tie-down fees? Sheesh.....

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I checked AirNav and their appears to be two FBO's: the Venice Jet Center and the Florida Flight Maintenance.

Too be honest, I get a bit turned off by "Jet" in anything, as my simple little 182 does not burn kerosene.

Any insights to the place? It seems the most convenient airport to Sarasota.

IIRC they're the only ones who actually have a terminal/lounge/pilot shop. Not snobbish at all, don't worry about the "Jet". No fee for the daytime tie-down, dunno about overnight. I'm sure Lance or Scott or someone can give you more details, though.

 

[ScottM]

Actually the most convenient airport to Sarasota is Sarasota KSRQ. Jones Aviation caters to small plans and has a cheap ramp cost, $15/day or $60/month, they did just get bought out so somethings may change. But Jones is the GA ramp that is the nicest for a large airport next to Wisconsin Aviation that I have ever seen.

 

[tdager]

Kent...thanks for the insight, it seems more and more that the info on the Jet Center is erroneous.

16B...I hear yeah, however the fuel at Sarasota is insane and I have no desire to dance with the big iron getting in there.

 

[ScottM]

Kent...thanks for the insight, it seems more and more that the info on the Jet Center is erroneous.

16B...I hear yeah, however the fuel at Sarasota is insane and I have no desire to dance with the big iron getting in there.

I agree the fuel is high there, but there is very little big iron compared to all the GA. The ATC for SRQ is pretty good and will work with you.

Venice is more of a small airport feel to it. Do keep you head on swivel there. There is lots of FLIB traffic and then there are low altitude guy up and down the beach not talking to anyone and not looking for other planes much either.

 

[gismo]

The wife and I are planing a vacation for the second week of July in Sarasota and want fly our plane down if the weather holds.

I checked AirNav and their appears to be two FBO's: the Venice Jet Center and the Florida Flight Maintenance.

Too be honest, I get a bit turned off by "Jet" in anything, as my simple little 182 does not burn kerosene.

Any insights to the place? It seems the most convenient airport to Sarasota.

BTW...why do done of these people post tie-down fees? Sheesh.....

Venice Jet Center used to be called Triple Diamond Jet Center, and they wanted something like $20/nite when I parked there with one day's fee waived if you bought enough gas.

FFM OTOH has let me park for free every time I parked on their ramp as long as I use their self serve fuel (which is normally the least expensive on the field). They also helped me with a maint. issue more than once. I like them a lot.

The downside is that (last time I was there) FFM didn't really have a pilot's lounge etc. You can get into the "airport terminal" building which is right next to FFM and under the offices of Florida Flight Training which is affiliated with FFM. I think FFM is in the process of expanding their facility to provide more amenities so things might be changing for the better.

 

[gismo]

I agree the fuel is high there, but there is very little big iron compared to all the GA. The ATC for SRQ is pretty good and will work with you.

Venice is more of a small airport feel to it. Do keep you head on swivel there. There is lots of FLIB traffic and then there are low altitude guy up and down the beach not talking to anyone and not looking for other planes much either.

I agree that SRQ is pretty GA friendly. Even TPA seems more like a GA airport than most class B fields. I always go to VNC because it's only ten minutes from there to the house in Nokomis vs 30-40 minutes from SRQ. But if you are staying near downtown Sarasota or going to Siesta or Longboat Key, SRQ would be much closer.