With the release of 26.4, two of my favorite airports in Southern California are now in 3D: Orange County and Santa Barbara. SNA is located about halfway down the length of what is considered SoCal, while SBA marks what’s generally considered its northern extreme before the Central Coast begins. While both airports have a sizeable amount of commercial traffic, especially Orange County, they also open new and exciting opportunities for general aviation and corporate flying. Thus, I chose to make my inaugural trip report involving either of these airports to be a quick flight with the Challenger 350, the only “proper” business jet currently in Infinite Flight.
Server: Solo
Operator: NetJets
Aircraft: Bombardier Challenger 350
Origin: John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California (SNA)
Destination: Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, Santa Barbara, California (SBA)
Callsign: EJA746
Route: KSNA-KSBA
Seat: N/A
Time En Route: 34 Minutes
Viewing our aircraft on the Signature Aviation ramp at John Wayne Airport from inside the terminal building. NetJets’s only dedicated, exclusive-use terminal in Southern California is located at VNY, so Execjet flights into SNA typically use either the Signature Aviation or the ACI Jet facilities. Our aircraft, the redoubtable N746QS, came in earlier today from Omaha and has been sitting on the ramp next to a company Challenger 650 that arrived some time later from Mountain View, California, for most of the afternoon. We’ve been chatting with our flight crew today, one of whom, the first officer and the man who’ll have the controls on this leg, is a fellow Tennesseean from Knoxville, over in the eastern part of the state.
Taxiing by the west end of SNA’s passenger terminal. For such a small, space-constrained airport, it certainly is busy, with every jetbridge we’ve seen so far being filled by a 737-700, 737-800, or 737 MAX 8 of Southeest Airlines, the airport’s largest tenant. We’re one of seven passengers from various walks of life aboard this Challenger 350, who have combined our respective resources for the short hop up the coast. Split among us seven, the individual tab comes out to a lesser than $650 per person. With the way airline tickets are going these days, it may be more cost-effective in some contexts to fly corporate on legs of an hour or less than to buy a ticket for a flight the night before, as those are starting to inch towards the four figures.
Rocketing out of SNA from Runway 20R. Due to noise abatement regulations from homeowners in Newport Beach, takeoffs from John Wayne Airport are almost invariably fast and steep, which is harder for some aircraft than others. The Challenger 350 falls well into the latter group, happily taking a steep climb angle and what has to be a 3,000 foot-per-minute initial climb rate to get to altitude quickly. Once we’re a couple thousand feet up, our flight crew will dial it back to a more conservative 2,000 feet per minute as we head out over the Pacific before turning north to follow the coast.
Climbing over Newport Bay and Lido Isle on our way out of Orange County. Our estimated time in the air is scarcely over half an hour, but it’s well-worth it in our opinion, as it beats sitting in traffic on the 405, merging onto the 101 at Sherman Oaks, and taking that all the way to Santa Barbara. Not to mention, we aren’t the ones doing the driving, whether that’s behind a wheel or a yoke. Looks like it’s a beautiful afternoon to go flying.
Cruising at 20,000 feet over the Pacific as we follow the coastline up to Santa Barbara. As we head north, we’re soaking in the view as best we can. From our vantage point, we can see Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, the traffic climbing out of LAX, Redondo, Manhattan, and Hermosa Beaches, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, and all the way back down to Orange County and east past Downtown L.A. to the San Gabriel Mountains and Valley. It truly is a beautiful sight.
Final descent into Santa Barbara with SBA in sight. Following a spiraling descent, we’re about to roll out into the grove on final for a visual approach for Runway 25. The Marine Layer is starting to blow in off the ocean and thicken up, but visibility should still be good by the time we land. As.far as we can tell, we’ve got the pattern to ourselves at the moment.
Golden Hour landing at SBA. For an airport with such a short runway, similar to Burbank, Hawthorne, or the one we just came from, the deceleration has been surprisingly smooth. Upon landing, we saw that we’re not the only business jet in town here, as a Wing Aviation Embraer Legacy 650 that we’ve seen a couple time at Van Nuys, N742SP, is parked on the local Signature Aviation ramp, along with a NetJets Embraer Praetor 500 visting from Monterey. As we slow down to exit the runway, we can hear the captain ask Santa Barbara Ground how tight the parking is over at Signature.
Taxiing by the John T. Rickard Terminal, which is only about halfway full, unlike the bustling one down in Orange County. The nearest aircraft to us right now is a lone Southwest Airlines 737-700 in between Oakland runs. SBA, much like the city it serves, is fairly quiet, which adds to its aura of being a nice little out-of-the-way airport to fly in and out of. Whether its general aviation, corporate, or commercial traffic, Santa Barbara Municipal is a neat airport.
Getting in one last look before descending the integral airstair and stepping onto the Signature Aviation ramp in Santa Barbara. While a super-midsize jet like the Challenger 350 provides a great deal of interior space for most passengers while seated, the same cannot be said about it when standing up, especially for taller passengers like ourselves. We’re always slightly stooped over in the cabin, but now we really have to duck to avoid braining ourselves on the doorframe as we leave the airplane. As far as drawbacks go, however, it’s a fairly minor one, as we have the ability to fly pretty much anywhere within the Lower 48 from any given airport capable of handling a Challenger 350 at practically any time in exchange for a minor inconvenience in moving through the cabin.
Viewing our aircraft on the Signature ramp at SBA at the foot of the airstair. The GPU is plugged in and a couple line service technicians are getting ready to board and clear the cabin from nose to tail before its next flight. On the rare occasions we get to fly corporate, NetJets is a go-to, and this flight did nothing but reinforce our opinion of them. Additionally, Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is a beautiful place to fly into, one we’ll definitely be looking into returning to.