Anyone know any local history about KCLR, Calipatria California

Tantalum

Tantalum

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Was out in the desert this past weekend and explored some local airports (L08, KWBC, L77, etc).. over flew KCLR and despite having a beautiful runway there did not appear anywhere to taxi or park, however, by the looks of it this was once a proper airfield

A Google search returned only garbage.. wondering if anyone here knows some cool history? I know L77 used to be a Patton base, that was a cool airport to check out as well this past weekend

Here are some pics from the air.. hard to tell from the photos but the taxiway did NOT look usable, at least not for a plane with wheel pants

In addition, I'm no sure where you would park, or how you'd actually leave the airport grounds??

FYI, was giving position reports on the common freq there 122.9 and the airspace was absolutely D-E-A-D dead

For an area as economically depressed as this I'm surprised money was spent to repave it...?!

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I am guessing maybe they are still supporting the AG planes and helicopters... Also, there is a big state prison there... just thinking out loud..
 
I think it must be for the prison. Google-fu says the prison has population of 4,000 - out of a total population of the town of ~7,000. Just enough space to pull off the runway and relay the prisoners.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I think it must be for the prison. Google-fu says the prison has population of 4,000 - out of a total population of the town of ~7,000. Just enough space to pull off the runway and relay the prisoners.
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Calipatria is a state prison. The California state prison system doesn’t use aircraft to move prisoners. They just use buses.
 
With 6,000 transient operations, but no services at the field, nor any aircraft based there, it certainly sounds like an ag refill spot.
 
Ventucky Red said:
AG planes and helicopters
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Jeff Oslick said:
prison
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ateamer said:
state prison
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Thanks, there is indeed a big prison there, that has allegedly helped the economy in Calipatria, however the airfield looked absolutely dead from the air, with no services listed in Foreflight and questionably usable taxiways when overflying it. There are larger airports within an hour drive so I can't see them using this to move prisoners, or even staff, around

Kenny Phillips said:
ag refill spot
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That's what we were thinking but the place seemed dead, Brawley had a number of Air Tractors on the field and has Avgas and other services while Calipatria was pretty much dead

Interesting because it used to have multiple runways and takes up a fair bit of land real estate, and still has an old, but large, hangar on the field. I thought maybe there was some unique history to it dating back to the wars, Slab City is not far from it (old Marine camp), nor is Patton's airfield..

Anyway.. figured I'd tap the brain trust here
 
Tantalum said:
Thanks, there is indeed a big prison there, that has allegedly helped the economy in Calipatria, however the airfield looked absolutely dead from the air, with no services listed in Foreflight and questionably usable taxiways when overflying it. There are larger airports within an hour drive so I can't see them using this to move prisoners, or even staff, around


That's what we were thinking but the place seemed dead, Brawley had a number of Air Tractors on the field and has Avgas and other services while Calipatria was pretty much dead

Interesting because it used to have multiple runways and takes up a fair bit of land real estate, and still has an old, but large, hangar on the field. I thought maybe there was some unique history to it dating back to the wars, Slab City is not far from it (old Marine camp), nor is Patton's airfield..

Anyway.. figured I'd tap the brain trust here
Click to expand...

Like I wrote, California Dept. of Corrrections has never used aircraft. All prisoner movement is by bus or van.
 
It’s common for ag operations to haul their own fuel to wherever they are loading. Lack of fuel on the field would not be a good indicator of the presence of ag activity.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
It’s common for ag operations to haul their own fuel to wherever they are loading. Lack of fuel on the field would not be a good indicator of the presence of ag activity.
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Interesting, I did not know that. I figured KCLR was defunct since KBWC is so close to the south.. I did not end up landing there but may rent a club plane to go back just to see it on the ground in person. Fun to explore new places like this

Bell206 said:
Look to see if it's listed on here. If not send them an email.
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/
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Thanks! I will give this a checkout
 
I’ll ask the guys in Brawley if they use the strip by the prison. I’m pretty sure they do use it. Actually if I’m not mistaken I think they resurfaced the runway because the city didn’t have the money. I’ll check. All that went down after I stopped working down there for winter cash.
 
I've been to airfields like this in this part of the country. Never saw one that didn't have anywhere to park, but I've seen a few where there were no structures and no aircraft or anything else. I always assumed they were being used by someone for something. Airport construction isn't exactly cheap.
 
ateamer said:
Like I wrote, California Dept. of Corrrections has never used aircraft. All prisoner movement is by bus or van.
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Even if they don't use the airfield to transport prisoners (which I'm not sure is the case, they may contract that vs. using their own aircraft), they may use the field to bring staff in and out. It is in the middle of nowhere, so that can save a lot of travel time. The public info indicates it has approx 29 operations per week.
 
The A/FD section of the Chart Supplement says that the parallel taxiway is closed, but doesn't say anything about the others. I also see that there is a current instrument approach for the field. The 85-year average annual rainfall for Imperial Valley is only about three inches, so I wouldn't normally expect the taxiways to be muddy.

As for how to get off the field, there appears to be at least pedestrian or bicycle access from West Main Street, near the southeast end of the diagonal taxiway. The now-obsolete Pilots Guide to California Airports shows transient parking being in front of the large hangar, within walking distance of that entrance.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.125...4!1srkyW1oGFj5YN23e_ifo5bw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

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The airport manager's contact information is listed on Skyvector. Maybe he could answer questions.

https://skyvector.com/airport/CLR/Cliff-Hatfield-Memorial-Airport
 
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Tarheelpilot said:
they resurfaced the runway because the city didn’t have the money
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Interesting.. the runway looks beautiful but the taxiways, etc., don't look maintained.. from the air they actually seemed like packed sand with part of it looking to be a very large water puddle. Clearly someone spent the money to surface the runway though, interesting if it was indeed the prison. I would imagine many of the struggling towns there could benefit from cash, so it is peculiar it went to the airport. Maybe just a good strategic asset? Brawley is only about 10-15 minute drive though. Odd

steingar said:
Airport construction isn't exactly cheap.
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Nope!

Jeff Oslick said:
The public info indicates it has approx 29 operations per week
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Always dubious of these figures.. I spent 4 days camping near the Agua Caliente airport once, L54 http://www.airnav.com/airport/L54, and AirNav claims 86 operations per week.. the four days I spent camping there I didn't see a single plane.. so unless the next 3 days saw 30 planes per day (about 2-3 per daylight hours, unlit) then I find many of these AirNav operations figures dubious at best..
 
Palmpilot said:
The airport manager's contact information is listed on Skyvector. Maybe he could answer questions.
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I actually called a few different numbers on Sunday, no one could really tell me anything other than "it's basically abandoned, go to Brawley instead"

oh well
 
Tantalum said:
I actually called a few different numbers on Sunday, no one could really tell me anything other than "it's basically abandoned, go to Brawley instead"

oh well
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Doesn't sound exactly friendly!

I added some more information to my post, for what it's worth.
 
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Tantalum said:
Interesting.. the runway looks beautiful but the taxiways, etc., don't look maintained.. from the air they actually seemed like packed sand with part of it looking to be a very large water puddle. Clearly someone spent the money to surface the runway though, interesting if it was indeed the prison. I would imagine many of the struggling towns there could benefit from cash, so it is peculiar it went to the airport. Maybe just a good strategic asset? Brawley is only about 10-15 minute drive though. Odd


Nope!


Always dubious of these figures.. I spent 4 days camping near the Agua Caliente airport once, L54 http://www.airnav.com/airport/L54, and AirNav claims 86 operations per week.. the four days I spent camping there I didn't see a single plane.. so unless the next 3 days saw 30 planes per day (about 2-3 per daylight hours, unlit) then I find many of these AirNav operations figures dubious at best..
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I did not say the prison paid.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
I did not say the prison paid.
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Ah! I inferred that from "they" - I assume now you actually meant Brawley(?) Either way, someone spent good money to repave the runway.. yet leave the taxiways and everything else in a state of abandonment.
 
I a
Tantalum said:
Ah! I inferred that from "they" - I assume now you actually meant Brawley(?) Either way, someone spent good money to repave the runway.. yet leave the taxiways and everything else in a state of abandonment.
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no. I meant the crop dusting company paid to have it chip sealed.

even at that I’m not sure. I just remember it being talked about. The folks looking at paying the bill did not have access to Brawley airport and wanted to move in on the competition.
 
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Tantalum said:
Interesting.. the runway looks beautiful but the taxiways, etc., don't look maintained.. from the air they actually seemed like packed sand with part of it looking to be a very large water puddle. Clearly someone spent the money to surface the runway though, interesting if it was indeed the prison. I would imagine many of the struggling towns there could benefit from cash, so it is peculiar it went to the airport. Maybe just a good strategic asset? Brawley is only about 10-15 minute drive though. Odd


Nope!


Always dubious of these figures.. I spent 4 days camping near the Agua Caliente airport once, L54 http://www.airnav.com/airport/L54, and AirNav claims 86 operations per week.. the four days I spent camping there I didn't see a single plane.. so unless the next 3 days saw 30 planes per day (about 2-3 per daylight hours, unlit) then I find many of these AirNav operations figures dubious at best..
Click to expand...

At non towered airports those numbers are self reported by the airport. They are guesses at best. There usually isn't much reason to get more scientific unless the airport is trying to justify some kind of expansion.
 
gkainz said:
CA airport improvements for 2019

https://catc.ca.gov/-/media/ctc-media/documents/ctc-meetings/2019/2019_08/73-4-15-a11y.pdf

CALTRANS capital improvement for repaving found on google but the doc is no longer available at this link
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At $200,000, there probably wasn't much repaving. I'd guess a sealcoat and restripe. Maybe a cheap top course/overlay. It shows as a non-NPIAS airport, so it's not one the FAA funds. Not sure how Caltrans structures their grants, if the airport owner has to provide any level of matching funds.

Interesting though that someone is keeping it open and making some improvements.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Interesting though that someone is keeping it open and making some improvements.
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Yup! Especially when the rest of the airport looks like a dirt bike pit

I would understand if there was nothing else near it.. but Brawley is like a 2 minute plane ride or 15 minute car ride, and this is one of the most economically depressed parts of the country

Interesting what you can find when people do a little digging though!
 
Landed there in 1971 to fill up a Turbo Aztec before heading south to Mexico. There was fuel available and dusters/sprayers parked on the ramp. It had a nice well-maintained runway. Salton Sea development was still sustaining retirement and vacation fantasies. That era is long over . . . but glad to see there's still a runway. The aviation minded residents of Slab City may well be working on plans to restore Calipatria Airport to its former glory since, after all, Slab City aviators need maintenance, service and storage facilities for those who base their aircraft in the area. I recall seeing a picture of someone's Baron parked within this community with engines removed for inspection. Double prop strike I think.

Trip Report:

https://www.desertusa.com/desert-california/slab-city.htmlB-58.jpg
 
Tantalum said:
Was out in the desert this past weekend and explored some local airports (L08, KWBC, L77, etc).. over flew KCLR and despite having a beautiful runway there did not appear anywhere to taxi or park, however, by the looks of it this was once a proper airfield

A Google search returned only garbage.. wondering if anyone here knows some cool history? I know L77 used to be a Patton base, that was a cool airport to check out as well this past weekend

Here are some pics from the air.. hard to tell from the photos but the taxiway did NOT look usable, at least not for a plane with wheel pants

In addition, I'm no sure where you would park, or how you'd actually leave the airport grounds??

FYI, was giving position reports on the common freq there 122.9 and the airspace was absolutely D-E-A-D dead

For an area as economically depressed as this I'm surprised money was spent to repave it...?!

View attachment 81665
View attachment 81666
View attachment 81667
Click to expand...

You might find something here http://www.calipatria.com/council/agendas-&-minutes/
 
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