Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Mojave Airport, officially Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field, sits in the high desert of Kern County, California, and combines general aviation with flight test, space launch and heavy aircraft storage work. For a visiting pilot it offers three long runways, a busy but uncontrolled-feeling mix of test and storage traffic, and one of the most recognisable airliner boneyards in the country ringing the field.
Mojave Air and Space Port is a general-use public airport built around three main activities: flight testing, space industry development, and heavy aircraft maintenance and storage. It lies at Mojave, California, and is operated by the East Kern Airport District. The field is of particular interest to simulator pilots for its enormous runways, its role as an FAA-certified spaceport, and the rows of stored and scrapped airliners that surround the airport, making it visually distinctive on approach.
The airport lies at an elevation of 2756 feet in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. Approach and departure control in the area is provided by Joshua Approach/Departure, reachable on 133.65 MHz.
Mojave has three physical runway pairs, all hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 12/30 is the longest, with 12 measuring 11893 feet and 30 measuring 11590 feet. Runway 08/26 is 7026 feet in both directions. Runway 04/22 is shorter, with 04 at 4836 feet and 22 at 4954 feet. There is no ILS at the field.
The common traffic advisory frequency and tower frequency are both 127.6 MHz, ground control operates on 123.9 MHz, and the air/departure frequency is 133.65 MHz, with Joshua Approach/Departure handling arrivals and departures on that frequency.
The most prominent visual feature for pilots inbound to Mojave is the aircraft boneyard and storage area that surrounds much of the airfield, where large numbers of retired and stored airliners are parked in rows, making the field readily identifiable from the air amid the surrounding desert.
Mojave Airport first opened in 1935 as a small, rural airfield serving the local gold and silver mining industry. In July 1942 the United States Marine Corps took over the field and greatly expanded it as Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station (MCAAS) Mojave, building barracks for thousands of personnel and adding a swimming pool used for aviator water-egress training. With the end of the Second World War, MCAAS was disestablished in 1946 and the field became a U.S. Navy airfield used briefly for drone operations before closing in 1947. It was later reactivated as an auxiliary landing field to MCAS El Toro, and at the end of 1953 the Marine Corps reopened MCAAS Mojave in that role. In 1961, after the Marine Corps transferred operations to MCAS El Centro, Kern County obtained title to the airport. In February 1972 the East Kern Airport District was formed to administer the field, and it has continued to do so since. Mojave evolved from a general aviation airfield into a world-renowned flight research and test centre, and in 2004 it became the first facility in the United States to be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, a status closely tied to the development and launch of the experimental SpaceShipOne there.
Mojave Air and Space Port today hosts more than 60 companies engaged in activities ranging from light industrial work to advanced aerospace design, flight test and research, alongside heavy rail industrial operations. It remains a major centre for commercial aircraft inspection, storage and part-out work, with numerous specialist firms based on the field focusing on engine development, noise reduction technology and cockpit display and airframe design work. The airport also offers a self-guided driving tour with stops highlighting its history and major attractions.
