Santa Paula Airport is a privately owned, public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located one nautical mile (2 km) southeast of the central business district of

Santa Paula Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa P ...

, a city in

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...

, United States. It exclusively serves privately operated

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 ...

aircraft with no scheduled commercial service.

History

Santa Paula's first airport was originally established in 1927 when local rancher Ralph Dickenson purchased an OX-5 powered International biplane, cut a dirt airstrip on his ranch, and built a hangar. Dickenson Airport soon advertised airplane rides and flight lessons available. Less than five months later, the Santa Clara Valley flooded following the collapse of the

St. Francis Dam The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in San Francisquito Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, United States, built from 1924 to 1926 to serve Los Angeles's growing water needs. It catastrophically failed in 1928 due to a d ...

, killing many people and destroying acres of property along the Santa Clara River, where the ranch was built. Dickenson's hangar was found half a mile downstream with his airplane still inside. He moved it back, made repairs, and began flying again within a month. In the following year, two more hangars were built as more locals began flying and purchasing aircraft. Recognizing the importance of having a community airport in the area, Dickenson and Dan Emmet obtained $1,000 from 19 local ranchers and purchased land south of the city of Santa Paula, adjacent to the river. In 1930, following months of personal construction and development by these founders, the newly named Santa Paula Airport opened to the public with a lavish celebration of

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glide ...

, celebrity appearances, and aircraft. This airport was also one of the favorite flying spots of actor Steve McQueen.

2005 flood disaster

On February 21 and 22, 2005, the Santa Paula Airport was heavily damaged when the rain-swollen Santa Clara River ate into the airport property, destroying airplane tiedowns, ramps, and approximately part of the western one-third of the runway. The airport's only flight school, CP Aviation, temporarily moved to nearby Oxnard Airport as a result of the damage. Repairs began in March 2005 following the receding of the floodwaters, and as of February 2007, the airport was fully open to the public.

Thomas Fire

In December 2017, the

Thomas Fire The Thomas Fire was a massive wildfire that affected Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and one of multiple wildfires that ignited in southern California in December 2017. It burned approximately before being fully contained on January ...

erupted and burned across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The Santa Paula Airport became a

helibase Helitack crews are teams of wildland firefighters who are transported by helicopter to wildfires. Helicopters provide rapid transport, enabling helitack crews to quickly respond and assess a wildfire situation. Helitack crews may land near a w ...

for CAL FIRE by the morning after the fire started. The airport was outfitted as a base of operations for the water-dropping helicopters, and closed to all of the regular

operations. About 23 helicopters began operating out of the airport, along with the necessary support crews, tanker trucks, and other equipment. In addition to water, brightly colored

fire retardant A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion. Fire retardants m ...

was dropped on the fire from the air. During the first couple of weeks, there had been limited ability to use fixed-wing air tankers and VLAT (very large air tankers) to drop fire retardant, due to the smoky skies. After having been in the air all day, the helicopters underwent maintenance at night. Other activities included a daily briefing each morning, lunches, and distributing maps. Many aircraft and their operations moved to other airports, such as

Camarillo Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...

, which remained open to normal activities, while being involved in firefighting efforts. Amid all this, the Santa Paula airport was able to make one of its

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 ...

s available for cats after one of the local

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

s was filled to capacity, and for one local family with its dogs for three nights, on its premises as well.

Facilities and aircraft

Santa Paula Airport covers an area of 51 acres (21 ha) 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 243 feet (74 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has 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 ...

designated 4/22 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

surface measuring 2,713×60 feet (827×18 m); it also one helipad designated H1 which is 60×60 feet (18×18 m). The airport is a non- towered facility handling approximately 97,000 arrivals and/or departures a year, and is home to over 309 individual aircraft. For the 12-month period ending December 8, 2011, the airport had 97,000

aircraft operations, an average of 265 per day. At that time there were 309 aircraft based at this airport: 96% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 2% multi-engine, 1%

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 ...

, 1%

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

, and 1%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

. The airport is used for training flights by pilots around Southern and Central California, due to the unique operating environment, short field and challenging terrain. Much of the original 1930s-era facilities still exist and are used today, giving the airport a very authentic representation of the

interwar years In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

. As a result of the airport's history and theme, many

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

aircraft owners have long sought hangar space at the airport's limited facilities for use and display.

Tenants

CP Aviation offers flight school, aircraft rental, and aircraft maintenance activities. Fuel is also sold at the airport. The Aviation Museum of Santa Paula is headquartered at the airport. The former Logsdon's Restaurant closed in early 2013. In its place, Flight 126 Cafe opened in July 2014 serving breakfast and lunch from 6am to 2 pm, seven days a week.

Events

Every first Sunday of the month, the airport comes alive with visitors. People put their airplanes on display with info cards on the propeller. CP Aviation sells Santa Paula souvenirs. Also, car clubs come in and there are always nice cars to look at. The Petersen Auto Museum has displayed its Ferrari collection there. File:Santa Paula 001.jpg , The airport as seen from Runway 4 File:Santa Paula 002.jpg , Wind sock and notices to airmen as seen by the end of Runway 22 File:Santa Paula 003.jpg , A view from the hangars on the Northwest side of the airport File:Santa Paula 004.jpg , CP Aviation, seen from the South end of the airport

Accidents and incidents

Between 1984 and 1995 there were 24 crashes, and 11 related fatalities at Santa Paula. On February 13, 1991, there was a collision between a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter and a Pitts Aerobatic aircraft above the airport. The two people on the plane died. Three on the helicopter were injured, including actor Kirk Douglas and voice actor

Noel Blanc Noel Barton Blanc (born October 19, 1938) is an American commercial producer and retired voice actor. He is the son of the late cartoon voice actor, Mel Blanc. Early life and career Blanc was born on October 19, 1938 in Los Angeles, California ...

. On April 3, 1991, two men died when the engine failed in their home-built plane. The plane fell and caught fire after hitting a golf cart. On August 27, 1992, a man died when his Cessna collided in midair with another Cessna, then went through two houses near the runway. On December 31, 1993, a man drowned when his two-seat Grumman lost power and went into the Santa Clara River. On June 21, 1994, a man died when his homemade ultra-light plane stalled and crashed into the Santa Clara. On July 3, 1994, a man and his daughter died when their

Cessna 195 The Cessna 190 and 195 Businessliner are a family of light single radial engine powered, conventional landing gear equipped, general aviation aircraft which were manufactured by Cessna between 1947 and 1954.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foste ...

had engine trouble and crashed. On August 12, 1995, a stunt pilot, former U. S. Navy fighter and test pilot, was killed during the 65th annual Santa Paula Air Show. His Berkut stunt plane crashed while performing a maneuver.

References

Santa Paula Airport

at Blanchard Community Library

External links

Santa Paula Airport

Aviation Museum of Santa Paula

Aerial image as of September 1994
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' {{Authority control Airports in Ventura County, California Santa Paula, California