Sierra Sky Park Airport

36°50′25″N 119°52′10″W

Sierra Sky Park Airport
IATA: none ICAO: none FAA LID: E79
Summary
Airport type	Privately-owned, public-use
Owner	Herndon-Doolittle Association
Serves	Fresno, California
Elevation AMSL	321 ft / 98 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 12/30 2,920 890 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 12,500 Based aircraft 40
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Sierra Sky Park Airport (FAA LID: E79, formerly Q60) is a privately owned, public-use airport seven miles (11 km) northwest of the central business district of Fresno, a city in Fresno County, California, United States.[1]

Other area airports are Fresno Chandler Executive Airport and Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

History

Sierra Sky Park was created in 1946 on 130 acres (52 ha) on the San Joaquin River, and was the first residential aviation community in the world. William and Doris Smilie are credited for creating this airport/ neighborhood hybrid and in 1953 built the first of the 110 homes in the project.[2] Residents can land, taxi down extra-wide avenues, and pull up and park in the driveway at home.[3][4][5]

Facilities and aircraft

Sierra Sky Park Airport covers an area of 34 acres (14 ha) which contains one runway designated 12/30 with a 2,473 x 50 ft (890 x 15 m) asphalt pavement. For the 12-month period ending March 29, 2007, the airport had 12,500 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 34 per day. At that time there were 40 aircraft based at this airport: 98 percent single-engine and 2 percent multi-engine.[1]

Accidents and incidents

On December 26, 2016, an Express S-90 crashed onto the shore of a lake, 250 meters off runway 12. Both people on board were killed.[6]

On May 2, 2020, the engine of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk failed after takeoff, and on return landing, the plane overran the end of the runway. The pilot walked away with bumps and scratches, and no one on the ground was injured.[7]

References

1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for E79 PDF, effective 2007-12-20
2. Parquette, Larry (2001-06-01). "50-Year Flight Of Fancy". Plane & Pilot Magazine. Werner Publishing Corporation. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2019-12-18. Sierra Sky Park, the first-ever residential airpark, was born.
3. "The Front-Door Fliers". Time Magazine. 10 December 1965. Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
4. "Sierra Sky Park Inc". Madera Tribune. Vol. LIV, no. 182. October 2, 1946. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
5. Gill, Cecile (February 19, 1947). "Airplane Runway for Subdivision". Coronado Compass. Vol. 2, no. 7. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
6. Jim Guy (2016). "Two dead in plane crash near Fresno's Sierra Sky Park". The Fresno Bee. Retrieved 2016-12-26.
7. "Pilot survives small plane crash on busy Fresno street". Associated Press. 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-02.

External links

• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for E79
  • AirNav airport information for E79
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for E79