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My Incredible 14 Seat Cessna Flight from San Jose (SJO) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR)

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Good morning everyone.  Yesterday, I wrote this post: PSA: Get Yellow Fever Vaccine Before Visiting Nicaragua (& Some Other Central / South American Countries).  At the end of that post, I mentioned that I had an amazing flight from San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) on 14 seat Cessna aircraft.  Here is my flight experience with lots of photos and a short video of my takeoff and landing.  I purchased the flight the night before (at the Managua, Nicaragua (MGA) airport) and the flight time was 50 minutes, with ~35 minutes of that in-flight.

a screenshot of a flight information

After walking out of the San Jose International Airport (SJO), I walked around the corner to the very small domestic airport that only had 1 terminal.  I was not able to check in for the flight online, so I checked in in-person and received this boarding pass (I was the second passenger to check-in).  I also had to check my bag (for free) since only small carry on items are allowed.

Sansa Airlines flies to these 16 destinations around Costa Rica.

a sign with a number of flights

The domestic terminal did not have a standard X-ray machine, so the security officer manually checked my backpack and “wanded” me front and back.  After that, I sat in the waiting area along with all of the other passengers flying out around that time.  A few minutes later, the bus picked up me and 1 other passenger and we made our way to the plane.

Here is the 14 seat Cessna aircraft.  I’ve never been on a plane this small.  I was really excited and a little scared.

There were 2 pilots and 1 other passenger on my flight.  The rest of the plane was completely empty.

I put my backpack next to me and buckled up.

Here is a short video of the takeoff.  You can get a good view of the airport beneath us.

The small building with the orange roof above the wheel was the domestic terminal.  It was tiny.  The weather was good and I could see for miles outside my window.

Beautiful views of Costa Rica.

After a relatively smooth flight, we approached the Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) airport.

Here is a short video of the landing.  The total flight time was ~35 minutes.

If you have the chance to go on one of these short flights, I highly recommend it.  If it weren’t for the other passenger on my flight, I would have had a private flight all to myself.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!

P.S. Coming up next… my 3 part review of the Andaz Papagayo Resort :)

Here are all parts of my Central / South America trip:


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11 thoughts on “My Incredible 14 Seat Cessna Flight from San Jose (SJO) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR)

  1. Mike

    Would have been nice to ride through a thunderstorm. You’d never need to worry about a falling oxygen mask messing up your hair or knocking off your glasses.

    Reply
      1. Brandon

        That’s expensive for a short distance, and I’m glad that it was free for you. I also enjoy having points available, since it allows me to take flights that would otherwise be expensive to pay for out of pocket. I traveled to Costa Rica 3 and a half years ago, and definitely enjoyed the scenery there.

        Reply
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