Fullerton Municipal Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorCity of Fullerton
LocationFullerton, California
Elevation AMSL96 ft / 29.3 m
Coordinates33°52′19.25″N 117°58′47.22″W / 33.8720139°N 117.9797833°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

Fullerton Municipal Airport (IATA: FUL, ICAO: KFUL), owned and operated by the City of Fullerton, is a regional relief airport in Orange County, California.[1]

The airport is in the north western corner of Fullerton on Commonwealth Avenue, northeast of the junction of the Santa Ana (I-5) and Riverside (SR 91) Freeways. The airport and its industrial park are surrounded by residential areas. It is popular among private pilots traveling within the state of California, but there are occasional flights to and from Nevada, Arizona and Utah.[2]

History

Fullerton Municipal Airport can trace its origins to 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, closing in 2000.

In 1949 Dick Riedel and Midway City's 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.[3]

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

The California Highway Patrol, Anaheim Police Department, Orange County Fire Authority, and Mercy Air maintain helicopters on the airfield.

The airport also had scheduled passenger air service provided by Golden West Airlines during the 1970s to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) which was flown with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop aircraft.

After two crashes in eight days in 1992, Fullerton Airport faced calls for it to be closed, by the then-mayor of Buena Park, Rhonda McCune. Due to the airport's location near the border of Fullerton and Buena Park, Mayor McCune alleged that "Fullerton gets all of the economic benefits from the airport while we get the accidents."[4]

Facilities

Fullerton Municipal Airport tower

Fullerton Municipal Airport covers 86 acres (350,000 m2) and has one runway and one heliport:

  • 6/24: 3,121 × 75 ft (951 × 23 m), asphalt
  • Heliport H1: 37 × 37 ft (11 × 11 m), concrete

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

Aviation Facilities Inc. (AFI Flight Training) is west of the control tower on the south side of the field.

The facility is close by to the Interstate 5 and Highway 91 interchange, along with Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park and Disneyland in Anaheim.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "2015–2019 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. January 20, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF, 7.89 MB) on 2016-02-22.
  2. ↑ "Lists of scheduled arrivals/departures" | publisher = FlightAware flight tracking database for KFUL | date = October 22, 2016
  3. ↑ "Endurance Flight Risk Pays; Children Get Medical Aid". Modesto Bee. Associated Press. April 19, 1949. p. 1. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Buena Park Mayor Wants Fullerton Airport Closed : Aviation: The second crash in two weeks renews complaints. Airport officials, pilots call it safe". Los Angeles Times. 1992-10-20. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  5. ↑ "Airport | Fullerton, CA".
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