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Flying into
Lone Pine California
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Best time of the year to go? |
Fall with Film
Festival weekend (Columbus weekend) being best. |
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Flight time in a Super Viking from KAJO? |
1.2 |
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Food on the airport? |
Several within a 1 mile walk. |
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Fuel on airport? |
Yes |
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Landing or Handling fees? |
No |
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Comments about arriving and departing. |
Coming from the south there is a lot of
restricted airspace and MOA's. Watch for glider operations. |
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Things to do at or near the airport. |
Walk to town for food. Visit the Film
Museum. |
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Rate this stop with 10 being best, 5 average. |
7.5 - Higher if you visit during the
annual Lone
Pine Film Festival. |
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Flying the Owens
Valley |
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If you've ever flow the
Owens Valley in the morning, earlier the better, you know it's
breath taking. The visibility is 50 to 100 miles, there is
always snow on the peaks which often exceed 12,000' with Mt. Whitney
checking in at 14,491'.
Landing at Lone Pine (o26)
is pretty simple, watch out for gliders and LSA's using the dirt
runway, their final approach crosses the approach end of runway 34.
The problem is you can't really see the dirt runway it's so
undefined.
After landing it's a half mile taxi to parking.
You park next to HWY 395 making the walk to town much shorter. Right
next to the airport is the Best Western Frontier Motel. It looked
like a well maintained place and some of the rooms had a clear view
of the ramp if you want to keep an eye on your plane. Getting to the
Best Western requires a 2000' walk.
The south side of town is a
half mile walk from the airport and town is only a half mile long so
everything is accessible. Entering town the first business you'll find
is the Lone Pine Film Museum. Why is a film museum in Lone Pine?
The surrounding mountains were used as a movie set for many films,
especially westerns. From the 1920 silent movies to more recent
films like Tremors and GI Joe some shot almost entirely on location
in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine. The museum is a good stop and I
would recommend it.
In town there were several other
places to stay and all looked nice, The
Dow Villa
Motel is in the heart of the strip and was frequented by the
stars during movie shoots. To name a few of the
stars, John Wayne, William Boyd, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Pat Buttrum, Stewart Granger, Errol Flynn,
Robert Mitchum and Clayton Moore.
Continue into town and you'll find 4 or 5 places
to eat. I picked the Mt Whitney Restaurant based on the amount of
cars in the parking lot, some local cars too. Pretty good place, you
won't be disappointed. Across the street is the Seasons Dinner House
and like the name says it's open for dinner only. I understand it's
the best place in Lone Pine but I wasn't staying that late.
Now, here is the Big Event!!! On Columbus Day weekend
Lone Pine hosts a Film Festival. Events include old films, maybe
a star or two. My
interest was peaked by tours of old movie locations and a historic
mining town. I was two weeks to late this year but plan to make this
event in 2010.
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Bellanca Super Viking N4201B on the ramp
at Lone Pine Airport. |
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It's a long ways from the terminal to the
runway, it sure beats walking. |
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Watch for the dirt glider / light sport runway
and look before you taxi across it. It's hard to see from
the air but that's the glider runway between the the sign
and the closer windsock, right to left in the picture. |
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The Lone Pine Film Museum is the first
business you'll see walking in from the airport. Very nicely
done and worth the $5 admission. Look them up
here. |
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A popular restaurant in town. Less than a
mile walk from the airport. |
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CaCadillac El Dorado once owned by Nudie (Nutya
Kotlyrenko), a tailor, specializing in elaborate Western
wear and, later, rock band clothing. Dressed everyone from
Elvis to Lennon, Roy Rogers to Buck Owens and Glen Campbell. |
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In his career, Nudie designed 18 custom
automobiles featuring silver studs, rhinestones, Colt .45s
and cattle horns. Seventeen were sold and he kept one, a
1975 Cadillac El Dorado. One of his custom-made autos,
complete with bull horns from a genuine steer mounted on the
front of the hood, was featured in the Monkees' movie "Head"
(1968). |
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The Lone Pine Film Museum |
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The Lone Pine Film Museum |
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The Eastern Sierra Nevada Range. I took
this picture walking to town from the airport. |
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The City of Lone Pine, the airport beyond. |
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Overflying Edwards Air Force Base and
Rogers Dry Lake Bed |
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The Edwards runways on the dry lake bed can be
clearly seen |
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Mt. Baldy, elevation 10,064' |
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