In Well Over 400 Hours Of Flight Time, ANN Sure Got Around This Year

Final Compilations by ANN Editor-In-Chief/Cheap-Fuel-Finder, Jim Campbell

It was a busy and wide-ranging year for ANN. Since taking the plunge and buying a Cirrus G3 Turbo in the wee hours of 2008 (literally on New Year's Eve), we've been spending a LOT of time on/over the road and with some 300 hours in our aircraft and nearly 200 more in a few others (including a long/great trip in a Columbia/Cessna 400) and quite a few hours in a really sweet Turbo-Aztec (with all the ice-fighting goodies... one of the most rugged workhorses in the M/E world).

In so doing, we've been to a number of airports, FBOs and maintenance facilities in the course of the year... many of which truly distinguished themselves... and a few that truly did not. That being the case, we wanted to recognize some of the better experiences we had this year in the hope that the word will get out that these are aviation businesses worth frequenting and have demonstrated their ability to earn our business... and a return visit when the opportunity arises.

Among those that truly stood out include:

KHXD SignatureFlight Support, Hilton Head Airport, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina:

It is a pleasant surprise when a certain segment of aviation that has had a less than sterling reputation fails to live up to the negative hype. I have come to frequent an airport that happens to be located near a number of my family members as well as some business interests -- and when I first started frequenting the Hilton Head, South Carolina airport (KHXD), I was first gripped with a little bit of trepidation when I found the only major FBO services at that airport belonged to Signature Flight Support.

I have used Signature, off and on, when I've been flying much larger aircraft and had reasonably good experiences, though it has not escaped my attention that the larger the aircraft I was crewing on, the better the service I got. I was particularly amused several years ago, while crewing on a Boeing 727, at how Signature Miami couldn't seem to do enough for us -- in direct contrast to the experience the week before when I flew in, in an SF260...

By and large, it has been a somewhat underwhelming experience at most Signature FBO's when I taxi in ANN's Cirrus SR22 G3 Turbo. I realize that the FBO business has gotten pretty tough, and that big jets buy lots of gas, but collectively there are an awful lot of us SR22 and other GA pilots out there -- and now and again some of us SR22 pilots occasionally show up in something else later on... like Boeing 727s -- and we DO REMEMBER.

So, I've always found it somewhat penny-wise and pound foolish for Signature and a number of other larger FBO chains to ignore or deliver less than sterling service to the segment of the General Aviation community that wasn't burning Jet A.

However; I got a pleasant surprise at Hilton Head and have encountered what has to be the jewel in the Signature Flight Support crown (as far as General Aviation is concerned). I have had unfailingly good service, met with uncommonly cheerful personnel, never had to ask twice for anything I needed -- and enjoyed what is a truly charming FBO facility, complete with a great pilot lounge, a really great coffee machine, a solid flight planning facility, and line people who know exactly what they're doing.

I put the aforementioned line personnel to the test last Thanksgiving, while dragging a number of nieces and nephews out to my airplane in order to get them oriented in preparation for a number of airplane rides that they'd been requesting/demanding/nagging me for quite some time, and was tremendously impressed by the ramp personnel's insistence on helping all the kids get where they were going, offering them rides in the golf carts back and forth (with a few extra runs for the obligatory bathroom breaks) from the airplane to the FBO, and making themselves available for anything the munchkins needed. That was pretty classy, in my opinion.

Munchkins Invade KHXD Via SR22...

Yep, the fuel price is not the lowest in the region, but neither is it gouging, and there are weekend discounts and a number of other ways to keep prices at bay -- and a modest fuel purchase will negate any ramp fees for overnight visits. I've been pretty impressed with Signature at Hilton Head Island, and can heartily recommend them to any pilot or any aircraft -- small or large. Signature KHXD is a class act and a good friend to the GA Pilot.

Aero-Verdict: Great Service, Good Value, Highly Recommended.

FMI: http://www.signatureflight.com/Locations/Pages/fbo.aspx?Loc=HXD