Fullerton Municipal Airport

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Fullerton Municipal Airport

Image:FUL - FAA Airport Diagram.gif
IATA: FUL – ICAO: KFUL
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator City of Fullerton
Location Fullerton, California
Elevation AMSL 96 ft / 29.3 m
Coordinates 33°52′19.25″N 117°58′47.22″W / 33.8720139, -117.9797833
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6/24 3,121 951 Asphalt
Helipads
Number Length Surface
ft m
H1 37 11 Concrete
H2 37 11 Concrete
H3 37 11 Concrete

Fullerton Municipal Airport (IATA: FUL, ICAO: KFUL), owned and operated by the City of Fullerton, is the last strictly general aviation airfield still operating in Orange County, California.

The airport is located in the southwestern corner of Fullerton on Commonwealth Avenue, northeast of the junction of the Santa Ana and Riverside Freeways. The airport and its industrial park are surrounded by residential areas. It is popular among private pilots traveling to nearby attractions such as Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm.

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[edit] History

Fullerton Municipal Airport can trace its origins back as early as 1913 when barnstormers and crop dusters used the former pig farm as a makeshift landing strip. The site later became home to a sewer farm.

The airport's "official" birthday is 1927. William and Robert Dowling, with the aid of H. A. Krause and the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, had petitioned the council for permission to turn the by then-abandoned sewer farm into a landing field. The Fullerton City Council approved Ordinance 514 in January 1927, formally establishing the airport. The council leased the land to the chamber for five years, at a fee of $1 per year, and the chamber, in turn, subleased operations to William Dowling and friend Willard Morris of Yorba Linda. The city would assume direct control of the facility in January 1941.

A portion of the Howard Hughes feature Hell's Angels was filmed at Fullerton in 1929. Hughes would feature later in Fullerton's history by buying a tract of land for Hughes Aircraft. The campus eventually became home to Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group, which closed in 2000.

In 1949, Dick Riedel and Bill Barris of Fullerton Air Service, sponsored by the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, set a world flight endurance record from the airport, keeping their modified Aeronca Sedan, the Sunkist Lady aloft for 1,008 hours and 2 minutes.

The control tower, built with Federal Aviation Administration funds in 1959, was the first in Orange County.

The Orange County Fire Authority bases its helicopter fleet from Station 41 at the Fullerton Airport.

[edit] Facilities

Fullerton Municipal Airport tower
Fullerton Municipal Airport tower

Fullerton Municipal Airport covers 86 acres and has one runway and three heliports:

  • Runway 6/24: 3,121 × 75 ft. (951 × 23 m), Surface: Asphalt
  • Heliport H1: 37 × 37 ft. (11 × 11 m), Surface: Concrete
  • Heliport H2: 37 × 37 ft. (11 × 11 m), Surface: Concrete
  • Heliport H3: 37 × 37 ft. (11 × 11 m), Surface: Concrete

Its control tower handles an average of 262 flight operations per day.

[edit] Accidents and incidents

The airport and surrounding areas have seen their share of aircraft accidents. Residents have complained that pilots often deviate from their mandated approach to the airport, following the Santa Fe Railway tracks. Pilots, in turn, complain that Fullerton and the neighboring city of Buena Park have permitted too much dense residential development in the area, which had been almost entirely agricultural when the airport was first constructed.

Since 1986, no fewer than 28 planes have crashed at or near the airport, killing a total of 11. Most recently, four were injured on September 27, 2004 when a 1986 replica of a Ford Tri-Motor crashed during an airport day.

[edit] External links

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