Departure
90%
vs 95% ▼ 6
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Buchanan Field is a busy general and business aviation airport at Concord, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering four runways and a full instrument approach. Once one of the busiest airports in the United States by movements, it retains an FAA-certified control tower, an ILS approach, and limited scheduled jet service, making it a practical and interesting destination for the visiting VFR or IFR pilot.
Buchanan Field is a medium-sized general and business aviation airport serving Contra Costa County, sited a mile west of the centre of Concord and just east of Pacheco in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Contra Costa County, has an FAA-certified air traffic control tower, and combines a large general aviation and flight-training population with a modest scheduled jet operation. Its position just outside the San Francisco Class Bravo airspace makes it a convenient alternative for pilots visiting the Bay Area, and the field carries a colourful history, including a cameo in George Lucas's 1972 film American Graffiti.
The airport lies in Concord, Contra Costa County, California, one mile west of the city centre and immediately east of Pacheco, within the San Francisco Bay Area. It sits just outside the San Francisco International Class Bravo airspace, which makes it an attractive alternative destination for pilots operating in that congested airspace. Buchanan Field has its own FAA-certified control tower, and traffic is coordinated with Travis Approach/Departure for arrivals and departures beyond the immediate pattern.
Buchanan Field has four physical hard-surfaced runways, all lit. The primary runway, 01/19, is the longest, with the 01L threshold giving 4,996 feet and the 19R threshold giving 4,389 feet; runway 19R is equipped with an ILS. A parallel shorter strip, 01R/19L, offers 2,767 feet, lit in both directions. The second runway pair, 14/32, comprises 14L/32R at around 4,301/4,255 feet and the shorter parallel 14R/32L at approximately 2,796/2,795 feet, both hard-surfaced. Field elevation is 20 feet.
Concord Tower operates on 119.7 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF. Ground control is on 121.9 MHz, and clearance delivery is available on 118.75 MHz. The ATIS broadcasts on 124.7 MHz, and UNICOM is on 122.95 MHz. Travis Approach/Departure provides the wider terminal radar service on 119.9 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 19R.
Specific published circuit heights are not detailed in available sources, but pilots should note that Contra Costa County introduced a noise restriction ordinance in 1988 restricting certain aircraft from operating at Buchanan Field, reflecting the airport's history of high traffic volumes and its proximity to residential areas of Concord and Pacheco.
Contra Costa County purchased land for an airport in the central part of the county in 1942, but the site was taken over by the United States Army Air Forces' Fourth Air Force, which developed it into a pilot training base known as Concord Army Air Base. The War Assets Administration returned the airport to the county in 1946, and in 1947 it was formally transferred and named Buchanan Field in honour of William J. Buchanan, a county supervisor for more than forty years. The Army continued to use the field occasionally to transport troops, particularly during the Korean War. In 1972 the airport featured in George Lucas's film American Graffiti, in a farewell scene involving a Douglas DC-7C. Buchanan Field reached its peak activity in 1977 with 357,000 total operations, at the time making it the sixteenth busiest airport in the nation, busier than San Francisco International, John F. Kennedy International, and LaGuardia. Growing noise concerns led the county Board of Supervisors to adopt a noise restriction ordinance in 1988. From the 1990s the county updated the Airport Master Plan and permitted adjacent commercial development. In 2018 the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution recognising the airport's economic importance to the county and the wider Bay Area. The field has also seen a succession of commuter and regional airline operations over the decades, from Britten-Norman Islander and Trislander flights to San Francisco in the 1970s, through helicopter services, to BAe 146 jet flights to Los Angeles in the late 1980s and Metroliner services to San Jose in the early 1990s.
Buchanan Field remains a primarily general and business aviation airport, home to a substantial based fleet and to several flight schools, reflecting its role as a regional training and general aviation hub. Scheduled commercial service returned to the field in 2016 when JSX began operating Embraer 135 flights to Burbank and Orange County, with seasonal service to Las Vegas. The airport continues to operate under an FAA-certified control tower and retains its noise restriction ordinance affecting certain aircraft types.
