Riverside Municipal Airport
Formerly known as the Riverside Arlington Airport, it is now known as the Riverside Municipal Airport. It is located in Riverside County, 4 miles southwest from Downtown Riverside, CA. This makes it a quick trip from the airport to downtown locations for those visiting Riverside for an event, such as the Ghost Walk around Halloween, or the Nutcracker performances by the California Riverside Ballet. The location of the Riverside Municipal Airport is convenient for locals looking to travel quickly.
History
Around 1959, Runway 9/27 had been paved, shortly followed by the Bonanza Air Lines being developed. Several aircrafts were flown by Bonanza Air Lines and Air West (successor) until 1969, including Fairchild F-27s and DC-3s, making trips between Riverside, CA and Las Vegas, LAX, Palm Springs, and various others.
During the 1970s, Riverside was served by Golden West Airlines, offering direct, nonstop flights to LAX via de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters.
Since 2005, the Civial Air Patrol Squadron 5 has called the Riverside Municipal Airport home.
The Riverside Municipal Airport used to provide scheduled flights by Western Express Air between Riverside, CA and Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport located in Arizona. However, in May 2007 the airline stopped operations, eliminating these flights.
On January 10th, 2013 video was captured of the arrival of a Boeing 727-200F donated by FedEx Express to California Baptist University for the new addition of its aviation science program. It has been reported the Boeing 727-200F is permanently on display at the airport, providing aviation science students a physically, working laboratory. The aircraft is also known as an N266FE, a Boeing 727-233/Adv(F).
Facilities
The Riverside Municipal Airport spans an entire 525 acres, providing a single helipad and two runways. Their dimensions are as follows:
- H1 – 60ft x 60ft (Asphalt)
- 9/27 – 5401ft x 100ft (Asphalt)
- 16/34 – 2850ft x 48ft (Asphalt)
Approaches
The Riverside Municipal Airport provides several types of approaches, including:
- VOR
- GPS
- ILS
Future Expansion
If in the future, the Riverside Municipal Airport decides to expand its current abilities to provide larger aircraft, it will need to increase the length of the runways. At this time, the Airport Master Plan has support to expand the length of Runway 9/27 up to 6,153ft. In addition, Runway 27 offers a Visual Approach Slope Indicator, which is a light system positioned on the side of the runway providing visual guidance during descent.
Runway 34 offers a Precision Approach Path Indicator, which offers aircrafts visual assistance and guidance to acquire and maintain a proper approach to the runway. Typically placed beside a runway, about 300 meters past the runway’s landing threshold.
Crosswind Runway, commonly referred to as Runway 16-34 is suitable for smaller aircrafts, such as personal jets, crop dusters, etc.