Corona Municipal Airport , formerly L66, is three miles northwest of Downtown

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

, serving

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

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 ...

, United States. The airport has a few businesses, such as a cafe, "Flying Academy" flight training center, and

aircraft maintenance Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance ...

and

repair The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

. Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...

for the FAA and

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

, but Corona Municipal Airport is AJO to the FAA and has no IATA code ( Aljouf,

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

has IATA code AJO).

Facilities

Corona Municipal Airport covers and has one

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 ...

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 ...

, (7/25), 3,200 x 60 ft (975 x 18 m). In 2004 the airport had 68,000 aircraft operations, average 186 per day, all

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 ...

. 414 aircraft are based at the airport: 90% single engine, 6% multi-engine, 2%

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 attribu ...

, 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 ...

, and 1% jet. 24-hour fuel service is available all year (self serve).

Incidents

On March 19, 1998, a Cessna 152 clipped a private twin-engine plane, causing both planes to crash. The Cessna descended onto the corner roof of an apartment complex near the intersection of Chalgrove Drive and Border Avenue. No one was injured on the ground, but both pilots died. On January 21, 2008 two private planes collided in Corona, killing five people, including one on the ground. The collision occurred about a mile away from the Corona Municipal Airport above Serfas Club Drive. The crash wreckage left debris strewn along a commercial strip near the

91 Freeway State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue ...

. Eyewitnesses claimed to have seen an explosion in the air and two different bodies fall from the sky. The aircraft involved were both single-engine Cessnas, a two-seat

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing ...

150 150 may refer to: *150 (number), a natural number *AD 150, a year in the 2nd century AD *150 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *150 Regiment RLC *Combined Task Force 150 See also * List of highways numbered 150 The following highways are numbered ...

and a four-seat

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

. Investigators from the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

, local Corona police detectives, and the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

began their probe the following day. As of January 23 a cause for the accident was yet to be determined. The crash began a debate about the safety of the Corona Municipal Airport, as it does not have an operating

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

. The city of Corona has had seven fatal aircraft accidents since 1998. On July 26, 2008 at approximately 13:47 local time, a baby blue and white 1947 Ercoupe

stalled ''Stalled'' is a 2013 British zombie comedy film directed by Christian James. It stars Dan Palmer, who also wrote the screenplay, as a man confined to a bathroom stall after zombies attack. Produced by Richard Kerrigan and Daniel Pickering, the f ...

upon takeoff when turning

crosswind A crosswind is any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel. This affects the aerodynamics of many forms of transport. Moving non-parallel to the wind's direction creates a crosswind component on the object and th ...

and crashed into the forest on the southwest side of the airport. Eyewitnesses said that the two elderly pilots had minor injuries, with one of them bleeding from his right cheek where the

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, u ...

struck him upon impact. Both were alive, but the airplane was said to have sustained considerable damage. On November 25, 2012 at approximately 23:00 local time, a

Robinson R44 The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Based on the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 a ...

helicopter clipped a refueling station canopy and exploded shortly thereafter. A review of airport video footage showed the helicopter was facing toward the station, lifted off, made a 180-degree turn to the right and tilted forward with its tail coming up immediately prior to the explosion. The solo pilot the aircraft was fatally injured. On January 22, 2020 shortly after 12:00 local time, a Beech Bonanza airplane crashed during a failed takeoff attempt. All four passengers aboard were killed.

References

External links

Corona Municipal Airport official site
at City of Corona website

- pictures and video
Flying Academy official site
(flight school) {{authority control Airports in Riverside County, California Buildings and structures in Corona, California Transportation in Corona, California