Tofino/Long Beach Airport is a

non-towered airport In aviation, a non-towered airport is an airport without a control tower, or air traffic control (ATC) unit. The vast majority of the world's airports are non-towered. In the United States, there are close to 20,000 non-towered airports compared ...

that is located within the

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a national park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. Its the Pacific Coast Mountains, are characterized ...

. Immediately adjacent to

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, it is southeast of

Tofino Tofino ( ) is a town of approximately 2,516 residents on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The District of Tofino is located at the western terminus of Highway 4 on the tip of the Esowista Peninsu ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. It is both a

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 ...

and commercial airport, used by both private aircraft and seasonal commercial services. Coastal fog is a common morning phenomenon in the summer, complicating access by air until the weather clears. Several

instrument flight rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

(IFR) approaches are available including

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

(GPS) and

non-directional beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are i ...

(NDB) types. This airport is equipped for night time operations.Tofino / Long Beach Airport
/ref>

History

RCAF Station Tofino RCAF Station Tofino (ADC ID: C-36) was a World War II, Second World War and Cold War, Royal Canadian Air Force, Radar station located in British Columbia. It was located southeast of Tofino, British Columbia, Tofino, British Columbia, Canada. ...

was constructed in 1941 to defend Canada's Pacific coast from

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

attack during the Second World War. In 1945 the site was decommissioned, to be reopened again as a radar station in the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Ame ...

in 1955 to defend against

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

attack.About Tofino-Long Beach Airport (YAZ)
/ref> The radar station was closed in 1958, at which time it became a civilian airfield. It is currently owned and operated by Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District.

Airlines and destinations

Facilities

A small terminal building was completed in 2010. It contains airline kiosks, a waiting area, washrooms, and food vending machines. Additional Services include: *

Budget Rent a Car Budget Rent a Car is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. History ...

- kiosk inside terminal building * Aviation fuel ( cardlock) - Avgas 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 ...

* Parking - 80 spaces, free Additional structures include: * Small maintenance hangar * Service vehicle shed (2 bays) * Salt dome * Metal storage sheds (2) * Long wood shed Environment Canada has a weather station on site, operated by a private contractor.

Transportation

No transit links exist. Taxis and ridesharing are available upon request. The airport is adjacent to Pacific Rim Highway which was completed in 1959, connecting Tofino and

Ucluelet Ucluelet (, also Ukee) is a district municipality (population 1,717) on the Ucluelet Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Ucluelet means "people of the safe harbour" in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth (No ...

with Port Alberni. The airport is accessed via a short drive down Airport Road, passing some abandoned

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

structures.

References

External links