Located 30 minutes south of San Francisco, along Hwy 1, is Half Moon Bay Airport (HAF). This community airport along the California coast serves as a base for many small aircraft as well as a destination for pilots flying to the area.
The restaurant space at the airport has been empty for a while but now people traveling by plane or by car can stop for a bite to eat at Pilot Light.
Pilot Light
9850 Cabrillo Highway North
Half Moon Bay, CA
(650) 402-0575
Opened by Sachin Chopra and Shoshana Wolff, owners of the popular All Spice in San Mateo, the airport space focuses on breakfast and lunch items including dutch baby pancakes, waffles and the $100 Smashburger.
The burger doesn’t cost $100. it goes for a more reasonable $15. While I originally thought the name was related to the $100 landing fee the airport charges charter flights, I’ve been told it’s a reference to a general aviation pilot’s phrase about flying somewhere to get a burger.
The restaurant has indoor tables with floor-to-ceiling windows looking towards the nearby mountains. However, the main attraction for those wanting to watch planes is the outdoor patio which overlooks the runway.
The restaurant is still in the soft opening phase with a limited menu and reduced hours of operation. If you want to watch some planes or just passing by on Hwy 1, it sounds like a pretty cool place to hang out at the airport.
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5 comments
There likely isn’t a fee to land at KHAF. A $100 hamburger is a pilot colloquialism – add in the cost to fly an airplane to a an airport restaurant and it becomes $100 hamburger.
I spent a little too much time learning about the airport and according to the Rates and Fees iist the aircraft landing fee is actually $100.
the $100 fee is Charter only. The $100 burger is most definitely in reference to the old saying.. GA pilots going out for the $100 hamburger and zero to do with a landing fee.
Thanks for the clarification. I’m not a pilot and read it with an amateur’s knowledge.
No worries, it’s a saying from a long time ago that stuck. When I started flying in 2001 a Cessna 152 was $50 per hour including gas. Today you can almost triple that price so there is no more $100 Hamburger it is more like $3-500! But everyone still calls flying to somewhere about an hour away there $100 Hamburger throughout the General Aviation world.