Corona Municipal Floods

Notice the "brown" color, most of the runway, taxiway and tarmac is covered in mud.

In January of 2005 a series of storms battered Southern California. The flooding was wide-spread. All airports, except for Corona Municipal (AJO) came out with little or no damage. My father took this picture while flying over the airport near the end of January. I feel sorry for all the pilots who are based there and had to endure this. Not to mention what some owners will have to pay to repair their flooded aircraft. Apparently Corona has flooded many times in the past. If I owned an airplane I surely wouldn't base it at Corona.

As a student pilot in 2002 I spent a several Sundays flying patterns (no, not touch-n-go's which are not allowed on Sundays). My instructor was prep'ing me for my practical. Apparently the FAA examiner I was going to take my test with liked to "deviate" to Corona during the practical exam. I came to dislike Corona during the training. It became apparent to me that we were not welcome there. Corona is a very small airport, the runway is only 3,200 x 60. Yet even as small as the runway is it has over 400 aircraft based there. Which leaves you feeling closrophobic. Each time I was there the air and ground was crowded with airplanes coming and going. On more than one occasion I was cut off by rude pilots who would show up out of no-where and cut in low and inside in the pattern. If that wasn't enough other pilots seemed to enjoy carrying on conversations with each other on the CTAF while on the ground figuring out where they were goning to go for their $100 burger. All in all a bad experience. If you have a choice I'd recommend going to another airport. Class "D" Riverside is near-by; traffic is managed and everyone seems to act more professionally when the FAA is listening.

Even still, I feel bad for the pilots with their aircraft based there.