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Fresno Chandler Executive Airport is a historic general aviation field lying about 1.5 miles west of downtown Fresno, California, and today serves as a reliever airport for the much larger Fresno Yosemite International Airport a few miles to the northeast. Dating back to 1929, it was once Fresno's main commercial airfield and retains a Works Progress Administration-era terminal building still in active use.
Fresno Chandler Executive Airport (KFCH) is a city-owned general aviation airport situated in California's San Joaquin Valley, close to the centre of Fresno. Once the city's only publicly owned airport and its principal commercial airfield, it now functions as a busy reliever field for Fresno Yosemite International Airport, hosting light aircraft training, charter and helicopter operations. Its long aviation pedigree, dating to the late 1920s, and its well-preserved 1930s terminal building give it a distinctive character among American general aviation fields.
The airport lies approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the central business district of Fresno, California. Fresno Yosemite International Airport, the area's commercial airport, is located about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the northeast, while Sierra Sky Park Airport, a privately owned public-use field, lies roughly 8 miles (13 km) to the north. Fresno Chandler is owned by the City of Fresno and managed by the city's Airports Division.
The airport has two paved, lit runways. Runway 12/30 is 3,196 ft (runway 12 direction) and 3,068 ft (runway 30 direction), hard surface. Runway 11L/29R is 2,556 ft in both directions, also hard surface and lit. Field elevation is 279 ft.
Approach and departure services are available on 119 MHz. An AWOS-3 automated weather observing system broadcasts on 135.225 MHz. UNICOM/CTAF is on 123 MHz for common traffic advisory. There is no ILS at the field.
Downtown Fresno lies just 1.5 miles to the east of the field, providing an obvious landmark for pilots inbound from that direction. Fresno Yosemite International Airport, 6.5 miles to the northeast, and Sierra Sky Park Airport, 8 miles to the north, are useful for orientation when navigating the local area.
Fresno Chandler Executive Airport is one of the oldest operational airports in California, with roots stretching back to the end of the First World War, when landowners Wilber F. Chandler and Edna Maria Goble allowed pilots to use their harvested fields for takeoffs and landings, giving rise to the informal name 'Chandler Field.' A fundraising event billed as the 'World's Greatest Aerial Circus,' featuring races, parachute jumps and wing walking, was held at the Chandler farm on Thanksgiving Day 1923 to help finance a permanent airfield. In 1929 the Chandler family donated 100 acres to the City of Fresno, and the site opened as Chandler Air Field in November of that year, serving both civil and commercial aviation. On 23 March 1930, Charles Lindbergh and his wife landed briefly at the airport and were met by a crowd of 20,000. The Works Progress Administration funded construction of the terminal and administration building, along with other support structures, in 1936; that building survives today and is considered one of the most intact WPA-funded airport buildings in the United States. The WPA also extended the runway to 4,000 feet in 1938. As the airport proved too small for the growing airline aircraft of the era, the United States Army Air Corps took over the field in early 1941 while nearby Hammer Field was under construction; Hammer Field opened in June 1942 and military flying moved there. After the war, Hammer Field was transferred to the City of Fresno in 1946 and reopened in 1948 as Fresno Air Terminal, later renamed Fresno Yosemite International Airport, taking over TWA and United Airlines services to San Francisco/Oakland and Los Angeles. Chandler Airport subsequently became a designated reliever airport and has since been marketed as an executive airport close to downtown Fresno.
Chandler continues to operate as a general aviation reliever airport for Fresno Yosemite International Airport, with around 124 based aircraft, the majority single-engine types, alongside multi-engine aircraft, helicopters, ultralights and a small number of jets. Services available on the field include engine and airframe repair, avionics repair, helicopter flight instruction, charter operations and hangar rentals. The historic 1936 WPA-built terminal and administration building remains standing and in active use.
