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Cable Airport is a busy, family-owned, non-towered general aviation field in Upland, California, tucked into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains at the northern edge of the Los Angeles basin. Founded by Dewey and Maude Cable in 1945, it remains in Cable family hands and is often described as the world's largest family-owned public-use airport, making it a lively and historically rich destination for the visiting sim pilot.
Cable Airport (KCCB) is a privately owned, publicly accessible general aviation airport in Upland, California, in the eastern Los Angeles basin. Built from scratch by Dewey and Maude Cable in 1945 and still operated by their descendants, it has grown into one of the busiest general aviation fields in the region, with a long-running flight school, aircraft maintenance shops and an on-field restaurant. Its family ownership, active traffic pattern and links to early Southern California commuter aviation make it an interesting and characterful stop for visual flight in the LA basin.
Cable Airport sits in Class G airspace and is non-towered, lying two miles northwest of the central business district of Upland in San Bernardino County, California. It is situated in the eastern Los Angeles basin beneath the wider Southern California terminal airspace, with Southern California Approach/Departure providing radar service to aircraft transiting or arriving in the area.
The airport has a single physical runway, 06/24, oriented east-west. Runway 06 is 3,746 feet long and Runway 24 is 3,695 feet long; both are hard-surfaced and lit. There is no instrument landing system at the field.
Traffic uses UNICOM/CTAF on 123 MHz for self-announced arrivals, departures and circuit calls, as the airport itself is uncontrolled. Southern California Approach/Departure can be contacted on 125.5 MHz for approach and departure advisories. An AWOS weather observation service is available for the field. There are no other navaids or published instrument approaches associated with the airport.
Cable is an uncontrolled Class G airport, and pilots are expected to self-announce on the CTAF and integrate with existing traffic in the pattern around the single 06/24 runway. A control tower structure exists on the field but is normally unused, being brought into service only to marshal aircraft during the annual Cable Air Show held each January.
The airport lies close to a large quarry operated by Holliday Rock, which has erected its national headquarters near the approach end of Runway 24, making it a useful landmark when inbound from the east. The field itself sits just northwest of Upland's central business district, within the built-up eastern Los Angeles basin at the base of the San Gabriel foothills.
Cable Airport, known as Cable-Claremont Airport until 1961, was founded in 1945 by Dewey and Maude Cable, who purchased the land for $8,500 and set about building an airport from nothing. Dewey Cable personally built the first runway, a 1,500-foot north-south strip designated 1-19, which ran perpendicular to the prevailing wind and had a steep gradient; it no longer exists today, its site now occupied by hangars, a fuel island and a wash rack. The main runway, 6-24, was completed roughly six months later, oriented east-west into the prevailing wind, and had grown to 2,350 feet by 1947. The airport became home to Cable Commuter Airlines, which operated de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter STOL aircraft and, by 1968, ran a hub at Los Angeles International Airport with services to destinations such as Burbank, Ontario, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara and Lake Havasu City, Arizona; the carrier was later acquired by Golden West Airlines. The Cable family has retained ownership of the airport through succeeding generations, and it is now recognised as the largest family-owned public-use airport in the world by number of based aircraft.
Cable Airport remains an active general aviation field with a terminal building housing a fixed-base operator offering flight training and aircraft rental, an aircraft repair shop, and an on-site restaurant. Foothill Aircraft Sales and Service, founded by Walter Cable and family-run since 1962, is also based at the field and continues to provide sales and maintenance support. The airport is home to Civil Air Patrol Squadron 25 and hosts the annual Cable Air Show each January. Both 100LL and Jet-A fuel are available, including self-serve options, and current weather can be checked via the field's AWOS.
