Departure
88%
vs 95% ▼ 7
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ramona Airport (KRNM) is a county-owned general aviation field two miles west of Ramona in San Diego County, California, best known as the long-standing home of CAL FIRE's oldest air attack base and the Classic Rotors helicopter museum. It sits within Class D airspace beneath the San Diego Class Bravo shelf, and its single 4,984 ft hard-surfaced runway sees a busy mix of light aircraft, corporate jets and firefighting aircraft.
Ramona Airport, identified as KRNM (FAA LID: RNM, formerly L39), is a public general aviation airport owned by San Diego County, located about two miles west of the town of Ramona. It is a lively general aviation field with a fully staffed control tower, three FBOs, an avionics centre and an aircraft service centre, and it is notable as the base for CAL FIRE's aerial firefighting operations and for the Classic Rotors Museum, a flying museum dedicated to helicopters and other rotorcraft. For the visiting VFR pilot it offers a straightforward destination with uncomplicated procedures set against San Diego's inland hill country.
Ramona lies within Class D airspace, which pilots must be in contact with before entering; this airspace underlies the San Diego Class Bravo, so operating requirements for the surrounding controlled airspace should be reviewed before departure. The airport is surrounded by higher terrain, and the FAA notes that this can cause communication difficulties for aircraft trying to contact the tower while still some distance out, a situation commonly encountered by aircraft departing the Lake Wohlford area roughly nine miles northwest of the field.
Ramona has one physical runway, 09/27, measuring 4,984 ft and surfaced in hard-standing (asphalt), with lighting provided. There is no instrument landing system.
The tower operates on 119.875 MHz, with ground control on 121.65 MHz. ATIS/ASOS weather is broadcast on 132.025 MHz. Southern California Approach and Departure serve the field on 132.2 MHz and 127.3 MHz respectively, and CTAF/UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz.
Pilots must establish two-way contact with the tower before entering the Class D airspace. Because the field is ringed by higher terrain, radio contact with the tower can be difficult to establish at greater distances, a point the FAA specifically flags for aircraft approaching from the Lake Wohlford area to the northwest.
Lake Wohlford, around nine miles northwest of the airport, is a notable landmark used as a reference point by aircraft approaching the field from that direction, and is specifically mentioned in relation to radio contact with the tower.
The site began life during the Second World War as the US Navy's Ramona Bombing Target and Emergency Landing Field, a 405-acre facility that opened on 15 October 1943. It closed after the war and was transferred to San Diego County on 26 February 1947. CAL FIRE established its air attack base at Ramona in 1957, making it the department's oldest such base; the US Forest Service began operating a separate base there in 1960, and the two merged into a jointly operated facility in 1966. The airport also has a footprint in motorsport history, having hosted one of the first official quarter-mile drag strips, remnants of which survive as an airport service road.
Ramona today is a busy general aviation airport, ranked among the busiest in the county's airport system, with a fully staffed air traffic control tower, three full-service FBOs, an avionics centre, an aircraft service centre and a number of aviation businesses on the field. It remains home to the CAL FIRE and US Forest Service Ramona Air Attack Base, which as of recent reporting stations S-2 Tracker air tankers, an OV-10 Bronco, a C-130H Hercules and a Firehawk helicopter with an associated Helitack crew, and CAL FIRE has been carrying out a substantial upgrade of the base's facilities. The Classic Rotors Museum, a working museum of vintage rotorcraft, is also based at the airport, and the field hosts an annual air fair and fly-in.