Santa Ynez Airport is a public

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 surface ...

located one mile (2 km) southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Santa Ynez Santa Ynez (; Spanish for "St. Agnes") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California. The town of Santa Ynez is one of the communities of the Santa Ynez Valley. It features the Santa Ynez Airport ...

, in the

Santa Ynez Valley The Santa Ynez Valley is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Valle ...

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. The airport covers and 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 concrete, as ...

(08/26), measuring 2,804 x 75 ft. (854 x 23 m). The airport does not have a control tower but does offer some services, including 24-hour access to both

100LL Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in motor vehicles, w ...

and

Jet A Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...

self-service fuel and tie-downs for transient aircraft. Santa Ynez Airport is classified as a regional

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 ...

airport, and averaged 83 aircraft operations per day in 2015: 55% transient general aviation, 43% local general aviation, 1% air taxi, and <1% military. There are 112 aircraft based at the airport, including 15 gliders and 6 ultra-lights; the remaining aircraft are helicopters (5), single-engine airplanes (78), and the remaining 8 aircraft are multi-engine. There are no jets based at the airport.

History

The Santa Ynez Airport was started in 1946 when a group of men from the

asked the

board of supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

to purchase 155 acres in the valley to start a flying club. It was not until September 30, 1949, that the State of California, Division of Aeronautics issued the first permit allowing for flight operations to commence. In 1950, the landing strip was upgraded with a 2,000-foot (610-meter) asphalt runway and parallel taxiway. In 1954 runway lights were installed, and the following year saw the opening of the glider port. In 1957, the runway was lengthened by 800 feet (244 m) to its current length. Between 1963 and 1982, the airport maintained a fleet of blue 1958

Chevrolet Yeoman The Chevrolet Yeoman was a station wagon produced by Chevrolet for the 1958 model year. The Yeoman was available in two models, a two-door and a four-door, both with six-passenger seating capacity. Based on the Delray passenger car series, the ...

s during the later years that one could, after tying down your airplane, simply walk over to, find the key in the ignition, and drive off to visit nearby Solvang and Buellton sites. The one thing necessary was to bring the car back with a full tank of gas. This legend became synonymous with the airport among frequent visitors to Santa Ynez Official IZA site
/ref> as you would see many of these old cars around all the sites of this region as flying folks visited to enjoy a get-a-way. Private aircraft owners use Santa Ynez as a hub for storing their plane as well as for refueling, and it is a popular stop-over airport for traveling private pilots. It boasts one of the best

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

locations in Southern California. Santa Ynez Airport also serves as a staging ground for Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department helicopters.

References

External links

Santa Ynez Airport website
Airports in Santa Barbara County, California Santa Ynez Valley {{California-airport-stub