RV6_flyer

RV6_flyer

Well Known Member
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Corona Airport (KAJO) in SoCAL is flooded again. Was looking for some photos but this is all I have found so far. I have seen others but they are not on the web.

58411758.jpg


http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/corona_airport_flood_closed_aircraft_203841-1.html

Other photos that I have seen that are not online show the hangars at the West end of the field have water up to their roofs. Only about 100 feet of runway 25 is NOT under water on the East end of the field.
 
Here are two photos taken by Fred LaForge that he sent out today... very sad to see :( Rosie

Corona_Flooded_2010a.jpg


Corona_Flooded_2010.jpg
 
Video made the 10 pm news in Tucson.

It showed several Cessnas up to their wings in muddy brown water.
Since none are shown in Fred's picture, I guess they must have also moved some flooded planes up to that higher ground.

Sad to see....
 
Judging by the number of airplanes stacked up on that end ramp, I am hoping that they got most of them out of the hangars before they went underwater? Any RV's based there?
 
Ironflight said:
Judging by the number of airplanes stacked up on that end ramp, I am hoping that they got most of them out of the hangars before they went underwater? Any RV's based there?
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Holy cow Condor! Concur with Paul...glad they knew where to put the planes!! Good pics Rosie! Anyone need help cleaning up hangars or storing a plane down there? Wow!

Cheers,
Bob
 
ACS is in a nearby industrial park on the other side of the railroad tracks. Looks like that area is not flooded.

BTW, back 20 years ago our Rockwell 114 Commander was hangared there in the most north western hangar. In the first picture from Fred, this is the one almost completely underwater on the far left. Yikes! That's a lot of water.
 
I hope the water does not go any higher. Here in STL for most of the floods they evacuate everything, just jump in and fly them out, as you never know how high the water will go.
 
Happened in 1978 and had a Cherokee in a hanger there. Got it out when the water was over the wheel pants. Never forget a 310 floating in one hanger. It was up on jacks with the gear off so he couldn't move it. One guy took off in a 172 and the engine quit and he put it down in the sewage pond. They don't call that a flood plain for nothing. Don
 
Flying Out

... for most of the floods they evacuate everything, just jump in and fly them out ....
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In an Email from a friend based there, she said:

We thought it was going to be one of those 'no big deal' rain events at 8 am yesterday (12/22), but by noon
we knew we were in trouble. The water suddenly started coming in over the wall mid-field, the waterfall ran the whole
length to the west end, about 1,600 feet away. A huge crack developed in the wall and then it broke through from
the pressure of the rushing water. Once the runway was covered with water the runway was closed by the City, so
there was no way to fly out (which is our usual modus operandi).

People and planes were moving all over the airport trying to get to higher ground. Hangers were being
emptied into U-Haul trucks. Activity at the airport like this hasn't been seen in years.
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She and her husband wound up taking the wings off their Cozy and taking it home in a U-Haul where it sits
on their patio and carport.
​
 
We just moved into a hangar at Corona a few months ago and are still in the process of setting up. We were aware of the flood danger but didn't think we would have to face it so soon! I was sitting at work without a care in the world on Wednesday when my dad called to let me know it was on the news. I raced out to the airport, trying to contain a freak-out since I couldn't find out how bad it was. We were still dry when I got there.

The activity at the airport in the middle of the night was incredible. We arrived around 7pm and by 11 everyone was on the field (I assume after finally getting off work, acquiring trucks/trailers, and trekking to the swamp). Several people stuck their heads in our hangar and offered to help (fortunately we had it under control, freeing them up to help people who really needed it). Just a great community and great show of support from all who were out helping. Thank you to everyone helping to save the day.

I drove out today to see if I could find out how bad it was but was turned away, possibly until Monday. Anyone else have any info on when tenants might be able to get back on the airport?

As luck would have it, take a look at the first picture Paul posted. Our hangar row is the furthest to the right, with water probably just lapping at the door. We *WERE* going to get another hangar initially - the one furthest to the left, with water lapping at the roof. Bullet dodged. If anyone needs some dry space while sorting out their own hangar, let me know and I'll make room. We have a project in pieces right now which can be put aside to make room for whatever.
 
Welcome to VAF!!!!

TonyG said:
If anyone needs some dry space while sorting out their own hangar, let me know and I'll make room. We have a project in pieces right now which can be put aside to make room for whatever.
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Tony, welcome aboard the good ship VAF.

It is good to have you here, and thanks for jumping in with the very kind offer above------sounds like you are going to fit in just fine.

Now, how about some photos and info on the project???
 
Mike S said:
Tony, welcome aboard the good ship VAF.

It is good to have you here, and thanks for jumping in with the very kind offer above------sounds like you are going to fit in just fine.

Now, how about some photos and info on the project???
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Thank you for the kind words. The offer stands, once I get out there and see how bad it is...

I'll leave a full introduction for another time and another thread, but I'm building a S**** SA-6B Flutterbug.
 
az_gila said:
It showed several Cessnas up to their wings in muddy brown water.
Since none are shown in Fred's picture, I guess they must have also moved some flooded planes up to that higher ground.

Sad to see....
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No, they are still there. The water just got deeper and you can't see them any more.

27y7lgn.jpg


I cleaned out may hangar, even the trash, and flew out to Chino on Tuesday.

Frank Holbert
http://160knots.com
 
fholbert said:
I cleaned out may hangar, even the trash, and flew out to Chino on Tuesday.

Frank Holbert
http://160knots.com
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Glad to hear you made it out alright, Frank. Love the website and I hear you in the pattern from time to time. It sure sounded like you were well aware and prepared for the flood waters at any time, but the holiday weekend might not have afforded some the luxury of implementing even the best laid plans.

On Wednesday night, maybe around 9pm (?) I heard someone taxiing (nothing strange there, some taxied rather than towed), then heard a run-up (maybe wanted to run the engine up one last time for a few weeks/months?). Sure enough, a few moments later I heard the unmistakable sound of someone taking off. I was up in the rafters and couldn't see, but saw a few people across the way stop what they were doing to see this, then shake their heads and mutter "no freakin' way..." The water at this time was past the mid-field pumps, leaving (by Google Earth's estimate), 1000 feet of usable runway. Must have been something with good STOL capability and a pilot with confidence in his short field techniques.


p.s. The automatic censor got ahold of my project manufacturer in my last post. Can't figure out how to let you know who it was. It's the guy who started Poly-Fiber and EAA Chapter 1 out at Flabob. How about that?
 
TonyG said:
On Wednesday night, maybe around 9pm (?) I heard someone taxiing (nothing strange there, some taxied rather than towed), then heard a run-up (maybe wanted to run the engine up one last time for a few weeks/months?). Sure enough, a few moments later I heard the unmistakable sound of someone taking off.
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That must have happened right after the Airport Manager got punched out. I understand three aircraft departed that night.

I posted my pictures taken over 4 days here. http://160knots.com/CoronaFlood2010.htm
 
The airport manager was punched? Why? because he had closed the runway and people wanted to fly out?

About those planes that are under water. Airport management did not move them? Maybe I am all wet, but I would prefer that someone move my plane to high ground safely rather than let it get submerged in water.
 
Ron Lee said:
About those planes that are under water. Airport management did not move them? Maybe I am all wet, but I would prefer that someone move my plane to high ground safely rather than let it get submerged in water.
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Boy, no kiddin'! Looks like they did a yeoman's job of moving things around...horrid to have a few left behind!

This link was sent by a friend up here...not sure its source, but looks like more pics from the Corona Pilots Association (hopefully not dupes in this thread).

Best of luck down there!
Bob
 
Ron Lee said:
About those planes that are under water. Airport management did not move them? Maybe I am all wet, but I would prefer that someone move my plane to high ground safely rather than let it get submerged in water.
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They were busy giving interviews to the press. Even the director of Parks and Recreation got his face on TV. They sure look cool however driving around with the blinking yellow lights.
 
Hi all,

For anyone who might need to know, the Corona Airport flood hotline says that the airport is open to tenants, businesses, and pilots from 10am-4pm today. Hopefully they allow access for the rest of the week.

The water level is rising again, as it looks like the dam outflow has been cut to a trickle (100 cfs versus the 2400 cfs it has been at since Thursday). I assume this is to allow Monday morning construction and/or cleanup downstream on the river. The water level is down 16 inches from peak. Kind of sucks for those of us still under water though...
 
Does anybody down there have a contact phone number for Corona Engines? Their main line and fax line are out of service. I'm guessing they're under water?
 
Sadly to see :( We also had serious flood in Poland twice this year :(
Hope to save as much as possibile!
 
Flew into LAX on SouthWest this afternoon. From 10,000 feet, it does not look like the water has dropped much. The hangars on the WEST end of the airport are still mostly under water.
 
Ron Lee said:
I just checked and the airport is still NOTAMed closed. Has the water receded?
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As of 10:00pm Thursday, the water is down 3 feet from peak, but still a good 11 feet above the deep end of the runway. Departures are being allowed at pilot's discretion on the usable runway (maybe about 1200 feet by now?), but you need to sign a liability waiver. The water had receded back past the midfield fuel island when I left today at 4:00.

The airport will be open Friday from 7:30 to noon, closed all weekend again (I hope this is just for the holidays), and open at 7:30 again on Monday.
 
Interesting....I was reading the Prado Dam information linked from Frank's page. Sounds like somebody made a decision to sacrifice the airport.

If I read correctly, the dam has a new spillway with a release capacity of 30,000 cfs, but they held the release to far lower levels (Frank mentions 4,500 cfs) because another Corps project downstream wasn't yet ready to accept a greater volume.

http://www.spl.usace.army.mil/resreg/htdocs/prdo_2.html

What would have been washed out downstream if they had increased the release rate? Streambed construction, or would it have flooded tracts of homes?
 
DanH said:
Interesting....I was reading the Prado Dam information linked from Frank's page. Sounds like somebody made a decision to sacrifice the airport.
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I had the same thought, although maybe the decision was partly made some time ago?

Below is a link to what appears to be more recent info on the dam, in which they mention raising the spillway crest from 543' to 563' (the published airport elevation is 533'; not sure what part of the field is reported). I also looked at the FEMA flood map and they show the 100-year flood level at 552'. From this it would appear that flooding is unfortunately not very surprising.

http://www.ocflood.com/SARP_pradoDam.aspx
 
Alan Carroll said:
I had the same thought, although maybe the decision was partly made some time ago?
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The Corps is obviously trying to correct the situation. When they finish the downstream project(s) so the 30,000 cfs outflow can be used at Prado, there shouldn't be any reason why the Corona airport should ever flood again.

I'm just curious about what may have been a tough decision involving downstream homes. It appears they did hold the water level just below flood level for the Corona sewer treatment facilities, and nobody has mentioned downstream flooding. Could they have spilled more water?
 
DanH said:
The Corps is obviously trying to correct the situation. When they finish the downstream project(s) so the 30,000 cfs outflow can be used at Prado, there shouldn't be any reason why the Corona airport should ever flood again.
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I certainly hope that's true. FEMA appears to believe otherwise, but maybe the mapped floodplain is predicated on the current situation and not the higher outflow capability.

I agree it would be interesting to know if there was a tradeoff between flooding the airport vs. downstream property.
 
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