Pilot Briefing: Fly-Outs

Until 2008 the Waypoint Café had simply been a good airport restaurant. This is when Jim Magglos purchased the café because, he says, “I needed more of a reason to go to the airport every day.” (Owning and flying a Bell 206, a Bell 47, and a Cessna 421 apparently was not enough of an excuse.) In 2003, the 3,000-hour pilot had sold his national fast-food chain, Baja Fresh, to the fast-food giant Wendy’s. He was getting bored and decided that owning an airport restaurant was exactly what he needed.

After expanding and remodeling the restaurant, he greatly expanded the menu to include many creative breakfasts and lunches. (The Waypoint is not open for dinner.) Waitpersons wear black T-shirts emblazoned across the front with “Flight Crew,” and the backs of their shirts say, “Good Food, Decent Service.”

Perhaps the best day to visit is Wednesday, known by the locals as Tri-tip Day. This is when tri-tip steaks are barbecued on site and used to produce what many consider to be the best steak sandwiches in Southern California. Enjoy one with a double-chocolate malt or milkshake. They are so delicious that they should be illegal.

The transient tiedown area is immediately in front of the Waypoint, a convenience to fly-in visitors that also adds to the ambiance of the restaurant. Those eating outside have a front-row seat to an always interesting assortment of arrivals and departures.

Work off the calories afterwards by taking a short walk to the nearby Commemorative Air Force Museum. It offers a nice selection of airworthy warbirds, including a Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero.

In 2014, the Ventura County chapter of The Ninety-Nines (with the encouragement of airport management) arranged with Magglos to create the Camarillo Viewport. This is a miniature airport on the airside of the restaurant that has a replica of Camarillo’s Runway 8/26 and a control tower that continually broadcasts actual airport communications. Children love to run along the centerline of the “runway” with outstretched arms and smiles on their faces. Visitors also may use the picnic area at the west end of the Viewport. It has tables with umbrellas to provide shade.

Much of the funding for the Viewport was provided by local pilots and other citizens. Donations were acknowledged by inscribing donors’ names on individual bricks that line the “runway.”

The Viewport is wonderful place to kill time while waiting to be seated in the restaurant, or you can relax on the large patio adjacent to the transient tiedown area that is provided for this purpose.

Barry Schiff is a regular contributor to AOPA Pilot.

Web: www.thewaypointcafe.com

Out of this World

Jumbo Stay

Sleepover in a 747 cockpit

By Edwin Remsberg, photography by the author

Have you ever dreamed of sitting left seat in the cockpit of a 747? At Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, you can both dream and be in the left seat. Arlanda is home to Jumbo Stay, a decommissioned Boeing 747-200 that has be repurposed into a 33-room hotel next to the runway, where you can be asleep at the controls and within sight of the tower.

The Jumbo Stay 747-212B was built in 1976 for Singapore Airlines and spent its flying career bouncing around carriers from Pan Am to Cathay Pacific before being retired by the bankruptcy of its last operator, Swedish-based Transjet, in 2002. In all, 10 different airlines owned or operated the 747 during its 26-year career. A gallery of photographs in the hotel café shows the airplane in its different liveries through the years.

Hotelier Oscar Diös discovered the aging airframe for sale in 2006 and began the three-year process of permits, approvals, relocating, and remodeling the 450-seat aircraft. The hotel opened to the public in 2009 at the airport entrance and the airplane was renamed Liv, after Diös’ daughter.

Every square inch of the aircraft has been utilized. Not only is the main cabin divided into bedrooms, but the engine nacelles, wheel wells, tailcone, and cockpit all house guests, as well. The airplane is more hostel than hotel and decidedly a budget accommodation. Half of the 33 rooms are dorms, with multiple beds and shared bathrooms for a total sleeping capacity of 76 people.

Up front the nose houses a café with snacks and beverages for sale in the evening, breakfast served in the morning, and free Wi-Fi when you need it. One wing sports an outdoor lounge and observation deck for watching traffic pass on a main taxiway, which is only 65 feet away.

For a pilot, however, the cockpit suite is hard to beat. It has its own bathroom, and the flight deck has largely been given over to a huge, soft bed that replaces the seats. The steam gauges have been removed and replaced with printed stickers, but most of the controls are still in place and moveable, if not functional. The POH is waiting for you, and local charts and taxi diagrams are in a binder at your fingertips. You have all you need to fly this baby—as far as it is possible to fly in an airplane that is cemented to a parking lot.

Any pilot who has spent time parked on the tarmac can tell you that those tin cans can be hot in the summer and cool in the winter—and despite modern HVAC systems, the Jumbo Stay is authentic in those respects. Like any aircraft, space is tight and often awkward, but it’s as neat, clean, and tidy as you would expect in the land of Ikea.

The 747 is amazingly convenient for travelers on a layover. There is a regular hop-on, hop-off airport shuttle service that runs from the terminal to the hotel and takes only a few minutes. Breakfast service starts at 3 a.m. for folks with early flights.

For more information, visit the Jumbo Stay website or call +46 (0)8-593 604 00.