Corps Of Engineers Flood Corona Airport (CA), Members Save All But Two Aircraft

The recent torrential rains in Southern California led to extreme flooding at the Corona Airport, about 50 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles (CA). It took yeoman efforts by many people, including several members of EAA Chapter 494, to save the vast majority of aircraft housed at the recreational aviation airport.

The flooding occurred when the Army Corps of Engineers released water from the earth-filled Prado Dam to prevent a residential flood downstream on the Santa Ana River. Unfortunately, the water spilled onto the airport, sending aircraft owners scrambling to move their aircraft from rising waters that engulfed the T-hangars on west side of the airport to the east, where the elevation was about twenty feet higher. All but two of the airport's more than 400 aircraft were saved, says Harvey Dodson, President of EAA Chapter 494.

"About two thirds of the hangar rows (200 plus hangars) were flooded," he said. "The west end of the runway is 514 feet elevation and the east end is 534. Some hangars were buried the up to the roof, then it backed up into my hangar and EAA Chapter 494's hangar."

Muddy water was about 50 inches deep in the Chapter office, and 54 inches in his hangar, leaving a layer of silt on everything. At the peak of the plane evacuation, it appeared that every square inch of higher elevation on the airport was covered with airplanes. About two hundred more were moved out to public roads, while several project aircraft on the airport all appear to have been saved.

Aircraft owners were not allowed on the airport until last weekend, but Dodson got a bird's eye view of the damage of January 13 courtesy of EAA Chapter 1 (Flabob) member Conrad Nordquist's Cessna 150. The next day, officials allowed businesses onto the grounds, and luckily Chapter 494 was considered a business, so members went and got to work cleaning their hangars as well as the Chapter building. "We got four hangars cleaned of mud before they started working on the taxiway and the runway." Removing the silt stains will take considerably more time and a lot of elbow grease.

People at the airport, with help from city workers, Civil Air Patrol members, and others, pitched in to help evacuate the planes. Dodson also received many offers of help from other area EAA Chapters. "But we couldn't even get them onto the airport." When airport tenants meet today, Saturday, they'll have a better idea of the immediate future action plan.

In the meantime, airport officials feel that aircraft operations will be able to resume in about a week. Until then, EAA Chapter members will be out there, Dodson said, continuing to clean up the muddy mess. "We've all been out there pitching in as best we can."

FMI: www.eaa.org