spaceflightmeow

spaceflightmeow

Active Member
Angelinos, where do you base your aircraft for phase 1 testing? I don't know the rules for certain, but I would guess that any airport in the LA basin is not sparsely populated enough to allow for Phase 1 testing of an experimental aircraft.

I'm near Torrance, so I think the closest "sparsely populated" airport nearby might be Camarillo or Corona.
 
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I can vouch for Camarillo and Phase 1 but not sure about Corona... Maybe the 'Chino Power Squadron' can chime in :) Rosie
 
SoCal Phase 1

spaceflightmeow said:
Angelinos, where do you base your aicraft for phase 1 testing? I don't know the rules for certain, but I would guess that any airport in the LA basin is not sparsely populated enough to allow for Phase 1 testing of an experimental aircraft.

I'm near Torrance, so I think the closest "sparsely populated" airport nearby might be Camarillo or Corona.
Click to expand...

I'm based in Torrance and I flew my phase 1 out of Rialto. I was able to get some good hangar space out there for final assembly and it worked out well. The flight test area extended well to the north west and north east over the desert.

Skylor
RV-8
 
Cable (KCCB) worked for me. From Cable you get an area out in the desert north of Victorville, east to Dagett and back. Works great for phase 1.
 
Good suggestions so far.

Is Torrance totally out of the question? Seems like it would be due to all the populated areas immediately around it.
 
I know in the past Whiteman has also been used, with an entry/exit 'corridor' over the Hansen Dam area.
 
FSDO

Only the FSDO can approve a test area. LA and Long Beach FSDO will not let you do Phase One out of any of their airports. Whiteman is NOT an option for the past 10+ years.

Getting a hangar to base in while doing Phase I is the hard part. Riverside FSDO has a "canned" pre-written approved area for each airport in their area that has specific exit / entry routes to certain test areas. CMA is in the Van Nuys FSDO and VNY FSDO can be sometimes hard to get answers out of plus sometimes you many not like their answers. Last airplane to test fly out of Oxnard had a 50 mile radius test area minus the area under the 30-NM mode C veil of LAX because top speed of the airplane was over 200 MPH else there would have been a 35-NM radius minus the mode C veil.
 
Oxnard worked great for me

Just past Camarillo, county hangars open and much less traffic.
The only down for you is distance and OXR is more prone to morning marine layer than Camarillo. Good EAA group on the field
Also know a good DAR who has worked many times out of OXR. Good test area includes the aerobatic box east of Santa Paula!
 
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I'm based out of Torrance KTOA and I flew my phase 1 out of Chino KCNO. Easy to get/share a hangar. Lots and lots of runway. Lots and lots of RVs.
 
Another vote for OXR. I'm about to do first flight out of OXR, if the wind will settle down for an hour or so.

6500'+ runway, no restaurants (fewer tourists), a great group of builders on the field, and plenty of flat, open fields nearby. You're also 8 miles from CMA which has a huge EAA presence, and very close to SZP as well (untowered, cheaper fuel).
 
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