★☆☆☆☆
1 out of 5
11 months ago
This had been my 6th time to Clemens, third time in my own plane. Today was my first time to come in on a Sunday and I have to say that the weekend experience is quite a bit different than during the week. Having been there several times before, General Aviation has always been treated well. Granted, it was 95 degrees today when we arrived, but we were the only ones on the ramp. No marshal, which isn't that big a deal, but the line crew was driving back and forth in their tow Jeeps, but not a single one even stopped to acknowledge us. We had to go find chocks, and leave instructions on fueling for the desk, which I dont like to do. I prefer to see the truck coming to fuel me just to verify that it is a 100LL AVGAS truck. Went in, got the rental car keys, loaded up the car, came back out to the plane, put covers on, plugs in the cowling, and even though the line guys drove by multiple other times, still no acknowledgment at all. Definitely a bit frustrating. In full transparency, we are a single engine piston, Piper Saratoga, so we are only buying 40 gallons of gas, but considering I am willing to pay $6.45 a gallon for their full service fuel, when I could have just stopped at Stearman Field and picked it up for $4.50, I do think a GA transient pilot deserves some acknowledgement from the line staff. Lets face it, corporate jet pilots buy a lot of gas, but they dont have much skin in the game with their plane. For us GA guys, especially someone like me that had to save for 20 years to realize my dream of having a plane, just leaving my baby on the ramp HOPING someone is actually going to do their job is disconcerting.
UPDATE: After finishing up work on Monday at 4pm and heading back to Clemens to get my plane and head home, I get there to find no one had fueled the plane, even though instructions were left 36 hours before. They asked me to wait 30 minutes and they would fuel me. Sorry, but I have a schedule too. Clemens wouldn't even waive the tie down fee considering they screwed up my fueling and departure. Ended up leaving and landing in Bartlesville, OK and getting full service fuel there for $4.85 per gallon. In the future, I will just go over to ICT and overnight with Yingling aviation.
Spencer Hamons
