San Carlos Airport is two miles northeast of San Carlos, California, in

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) classifies San Carlos as a

reliever airport A relief airport or reliever airport is an airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport(s) requires additional capacity, on a long-term or temporary basis. Reliever a ...

for San Francisco International Airport. The airport is off U.S. Route 101. The airport is home to Civil Air Patrol West Bay Composite Squadron 192. Next to the airport is the

Hiller Aviation Museum The Hiller Aviation Museum is an aircraft history museum located at the San Carlos Airport in San Carlos, California. The museum was founded by Stanley Hiller in June 1998. and is endowed by members of the Hiller family. It specializes in Nor ...

History

The San Carlos Flying Field was established during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

by J. Paulding Edwards on a field north of Cordilleras Creek and east of today's Old County Road. A 300 foot long hangar was situated along the western end of Terminal Way. San Carlos' first pilot's license was issued on July 10, 1917 to Lieutenant Prince.Pilot's License Granted Flier at San Carlos, Redwood City Democrat, July 10, 1917
/ref> In 1923, the airfield was taken over by the Cooley family. Charles P. Cooley was the primary flight instructor and his father, Frank S. Cooley, operated the field. On July 12, 1940, a fire destroyed the main

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

and twelve aircraft. Operations were maintained on an airstrip bounded by today's Brittan Avenue, Washington Street, Old County Road, and Industrial Road. Sometime around 1935 the Cooley family established a different airfield near the foot of today's Twin Dolphin Drive in San Carlos. That facility had a 200 ft by 2100 ft runway and a building that housed various industrial activities. The Cooley family eventually determined that the airport needed to be moved because its proximity to the Phelps and Steinberger Sloughs limited the length of the runway. The Cooleys opened another airfield at the present location of the San Carlos airport in 1948. In 1952 ownership was transferred to Mr. Francis Michaud who renamed it San Carlos-Belmont Airport. Repair and administrative buildings were added and plans were developed to lengthen the runway to 7000 ft. In 1957 the field was renamed San Mateo County Airport, Inc. Ownership was split between Michaud, the Piombo Construction Company, and six other parties. San Mateo County purchased the property in 1964. Today the airport is completely funded with user and business fees and receives no money from the County's General Fund.San Carlos Airport Association
/ref>San Mateo County Public Works
/ref>

Facilities

San Carlos Airport covers at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 5 feet (2 m). Its one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

, 12/30, is 2,600 by 75 feet (792 x 23 m) asphalt. A plan to lengthen the runway by 400 feet was quelled by neighbors in 1999. Aircraft with gross weight in excess of 12,500 lb (5,670 kg) are prohibited. San Carlos Airport is home to over 30 aviation-related businesses. Facilities and FBOs at KSQL include Bay Aerial Helicopter Service, FlyBayArea, JATO Aviation, Rabbit Aviation Services, Surf Air, Zanette Aviation Insurance, West Valley Flying Club, Diamond Aviation Charter, and the San Carlos Flight Center. In 2007 the airport had 155,273 aircraft operations, average 425 per day: 98%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 2%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

and <1% military. 372 aircraft were then based at this airport: 86% single-engine, 11% multi-engine, <1% jet and 3%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

Origin of SQL airport code

As a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

, some have speculated that the airport code of SQL is a humorous reference to the nearby headquarters of Oracle Corporation, a maker of database software. In databases, SQL, or Structured Query Language, is used for handling structured data. However, the airport had the code SQL years before Oracle's predecessor, Software Development Laboratories, was incorporated in June, 1977.

Experimental Aircraft Association

The

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

(EAA) has a local chapter at San Carlos Airport. EAA Chapter 20 had about 50 members as of 2010. An on-field flight school typically hosts monthly meetings on the second Saturday of each month.

Accidents and incidents

* On September 2, 2010, a

Beechcraft Queen Air The Beechcraft Queen Air is a twin-engined light aircraft produced by Beechcraft in several versions from 1960 to 1978. Based upon the Twin Bonanza, with which it shared key components such as wings, engines, and tail surfaces, but featuring ...

crashed into a nearby lagoon at Oracle headquarters shortly after takeoff from runway 30, killing all three occupants. * On October 20, 2017, a Cirrus SR-22 overran the end of runway 30, crashing through a fence and onto adjacent Skyway Road upon takeoff. The two occupants suffered only minor injuries.

Proposed runway extension

In 1999, a proposal was given to extend the runway into the marshy area near

Bair Island Bair Island is a marsh area in Redwood City, California, covering , and includes three islands: Inner, Middle and Outer islands. Bair Island is part of the larger Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It is surrounded by the St ...

south of the airport. The proposal encountered opposition among the adjacent residents in Redwood Shores and Foster City, who complained about the potential for increased noise. Despite promises by San Mateo County officials, opponents felt a longer runway would lead to bigger and noisier planes, in particular, more corporate aircraft of the light jet category. As a result, the runway was not extended.

References

External links

San Carlos Airport
page at San Mateo County Department of Public Works website
San Carlos Airport Association
* * {{Airports in the San Francisco Bay Area Airports in San Mateo County, California