February 11, 2026 – Finally got to visit the new restaurant!
Landing Strip Cafe at Flagler International Airport (KFIN)
The previous article is kept down below for historical purposes. This article will discuss the newest version of The Landing Strip Cafe
My friend Bill Lowery not only has his own airplane, he has his own airport. He lives in Geneva and owns Cedar Knolls, 01FL. It has it’s own cutout of the Sanford class C.
Bill has an older Cessna 182 (Model G I think?) which has a nice upgrade of Avionics including Garmin 650xti, 2 G5s, Autopilot, audio panel and transponder. I felt very comfortable operating all the equipment.
It has been upgraded to an IO-470 fuel injected Continental engine, so the carb heat has been removed.
The Flight
We took off to the south, on a soft, very narrow runway with tall trees on either side. Bill let it build up speed and then climbed above the trees. We headed over to Masssey Ranch (X50) to fill up the tanks. Departed shortly to KFIN.
I convinced Bill, a seaplane pilot, to fly above 700 feet and talk to Daytona Approach. He was also looking for instruction on how to use the Garmin and the autopilot. I was happy to oblige.
Once we figured out how to enter the pattern (some Riddle guys were using the tailwind runway for some reason) we landed and topped off.
Then we headed up to Flagler for some lunch, using Daytona for Flight Following, which was expertly handled and very professional. Some of the best controllers in the world are in Central FL!
The Restaurant
It’s changed quite a bit. It is much more wide open, not nearly as “cozy” as it was but certainly busier with a lot of aircraft parked out front. It’s also the lot for the Phoenix East flight school so … there’s that.
The place has expanded, as I said before. We were seated at a table in the larger section
Bill ordered the Cuban Reuben, and I ordered the Grilled Chicken sandwich with bacon and cheese. Both were delicious. The chips came with a honey mustard dip which was excellent.
The Return Trip
Bill had me do the take off. Interesting, I discovered on the taxi out that my right brake was not working. So Bill had to handle brakes. He’s fixing that today. I flew “his way” on the way back, avoiding airspace and not talking to anyone, although we did monitor Deland CTAF listening for sky diving activities. Always a good idea to avoid the Meat Missiles. We avoided a ton of ERAU training aircraft around the area, and descended in to 01FL below the Sanford Class C.
The landing was exciting. I had to “find” the runway as it is a narrow strip between tall trees. In fact I misjudged the height of the trees and was too high on round out, and dropped it in from about 10 feet. Fortunately I added a little power to smooth it out, and the aircraft is flyable again, so … good landing!
Some more photos from the day
August 17, 2021
High Jackers at Flagler International Airpoprt (KFIN)
I also found out about this place from the Orlando Pilots Facebook group. I originally had a copilot lined up but he cancelled on me at the last minute.
I stopped by Atlantic Aviation (KORL) to do my Mandatory Pre-Flight Procedure (empty the sumps. Still don’t get it? Go to the bathroom) I happened to run in to an old flying buddy of mine, Luis Campos, who is now flying B757/767 for ATI. He was waiting for another friend, Elias Delgado, who is now teaching at SimCom.
Elias, myself and Luis, doing our best to make bad selfie faces.
They went off to do some approaches in a 182, but we promised to all fly somewhere together next week for lunch. Imagine that.
So I took my rental C-172 up to Flagler, dealing with the new airspace. Since Sanford is now a “major” airport (they have one airline – Allegiant), there are all kinds of modifications to the class B airspace. I got flight following and they were nice enough to take me right over the top of KSFB
Orlando Approach and Daytona Approach did an excellent job of keeping me clear of traffic, and there was a lot of traffic. I guess I was encroaching on the Embry-Riddle playground on that route of flight.
I was handed off to the tower controller at Flagler, who gave me great directions to get to the restaurant. “Park anywhere west of the cones, first come first serve. Enjoy your lunch!”
PIREP
The actual cost ended up being less than $300.
- Aircraft Rental: 1.2 tach * $89 = $106.80
- Fuel at Flagler: $19.28
- Fuel at Atlantic Aviation: $63.81
- Restaurant bill: $20
- ——-
- Total: $209.89
- ——-
- Total flight time 1.9
The owner was not there but I did speak with Amaya, the manager’s daughter. “We are known for our seafood and our wraps” she told me, “and on Thursdays we get a big group that comes up from Spruce Creek. Other than that, most of our fly-in business is Embry-Riddle students during the week, and the sport pilots on the weekends. Our business is roughly half fly-in and half local. Our owners also own a few more restaurants in town.”
My lunch, a Greek Grilled Chicken Wrap, was reasonable and tasty. It was delivered quickly along with a hot cup of coffee. The waitstaff was friendly and very helpful. The theme of the place is definitely aviation, although the fully stocked bar indicated the local interest(!)
Taxiing out, there was a lot of traffic in the pattern, and in the area, so I had to wait for a guy doing pattern work. I followed him till the crosswind leg, then climbed out of the pattern and contacted Daytona approach. They were very kind and vectored me all around the extensive flight training traffic in the area.
Orlando approach never actually cleared me in to the Class B, but they vectored me over the top of KSFB on the way home and pretty much let me go direct to KORL.
Great lunch, great flight, great day!
Back to $300 Burgers