Inyokern Airport is a public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

of Inyokern, in

Kern County Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is owned by the Indian Wells Valley Airport District and serves the

Indian Wells Valley Indian Wells Valley is an arid north–south basin in east-central California. In the geologic sense, it is a southern extension of Owens Valley to the north, with the recent volcanics of the Coso Range being the separator. It is defined by a maj ...

area. The airport is mostly used for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

and was previously served by a number of commuter and regional airlines over the years with passenger flights to Los Angeles (

LAX A lax is a salmon. LAX as an acronym most commonly refers to Los Angeles International Airport in Southern California, United States. LAX or Lax may also refer to: Places Within Los Angeles * Union Station (Los Angeles), Los Angeles' main tr ...

). As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

records, the airport had 11,149 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year A calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. The Gregorian calendar year, which is in use as civil calendar in ...

2008, 11,081 enplanements in 2009, and 11,109 in 2010. It is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).

History

Historical airline service

As early as the mid 1950s, Inyokern had scheduled passenger air service operated by

Southwest Airways Pacific Air Lines was a local service carrier on the West Coast of the United States that began scheduled passenger flights in the mid-1940s under the name Southwest Airways. The company linked small cities in California with larger cities such ...

with

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

aircraft twice a day on weekdays nonstop to

Burbank Airport Hollywood Burbank Airport is a public airport northwest of downtown Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California, United States.. Federal Aviation Administration. effective November 9, 2017 The airport serves Burbank, Hollywood, and the nor ...

(BUR, now

Bob Hope Airport Hollywood Burbank Airport is a public airport northwest of downtown Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California, United States.. Federal Aviation Administration. effective November 9, 2017 The airport serves Burbank, Hollywood, and the nor ...

) in the Los Angeles area. According to the March 11, 1954, Southwest Airways system timetable, this DC-3 service was "operated under and subject to terms of U.S. Navy Contract". Southwest Airways then changed its name to

Pacific Air Lines Pacific Air Lines was a local service carrier on the West Coast of the United States that began scheduled passenger flights in the mid-1940s under the name Southwest Airways. The company linked small cities in California with larger cities such ...

which in 1960 was operating nonstop DC-3 service to

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...

(

). By 1964, Pacific was operating

Martin 4-0-4 The Martin 4-0-4 is an American pressurized passenger airliner built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. In addition to airline use initially in the United States, it was used by the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy as the RM-1G (la ...

propliners from the airport to LAX. In 1968, Pacific Air Lines merged with

Bonanza Air Lines Bonanza Air Lines was a local service carrier, a US scheduled airline focused on smaller routes in the Western United States (and eventually Mexico) from 1949 until it merged with two other local service airlines to form Air West in 1968. Its he ...

and

West Coast Airlines West Coast Airlines was a United States local service carrier, a scheduled airline certificated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), linking small cities in the Pacific Northwest with larger cities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, ...

to form Air West which at this time was operating

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 are versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined, turboprop, passenger aircraft formerly manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to ...

turboprops from Inyokern to Los Angeles via a stop at Fox Field in

Lancaster, CA Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 173,516, making Lancaster the 158th-most populo ...

. Air West then changed its name to

Hughes Airwest Hughes Air Corporation, doing business as Hughes Airwest, was a local service carrier from 1970 to 1980 in the Western United States. It was backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carr ...

which continued to serve the airport with F-27 propjet flights to LAX via Lancaster. In 1968, Cable Commuter Airlines was operating

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...

turboprops to

in competition with Air West. Following the cessation of service by Hughes Airwest in the early 1970s, a number of commuter and regional airlines served the airport over the years with scheduled passenger flights to

(

). Schedules in the Official Airline Guide (OAG) from 1974 through 2007 list flights operated at various times over the years by American Eagle (operated by Wings West Airlines), C&M Airlines, Cable Commuter Airlines,

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic mark ...

(operated by

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest operates and maintains aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by four partner Mainline (air travel), mainline airlines. The comp ...

), Desert Sun Airlines, Golden West Airlines, Indian Wells Airlines, Inland Empire Airlines, Mojave Airlines, and

United Express United Express is a regional airline network that supports United Airlines operations, primarily by serving smaller cities and connecting traffic to United's main hubs. Representing six percent of United's total capacity for 2024, United Express ...

(initially operated by

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona. Mesa operates and maintains a fleet of Embraer E-175 Aircraft that are scheduled, marketed and sold by United Airlines as United Express. ...

and later by

). These OAGs also list the various turboprop aircraft types that were operated by most of the above airlines into the airport including the Beechcraft C99 (Desert Sun and Mojave Airlines), the

Beechcraft 1900C The Beechcraft 1900 is a U.S made twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With customers favoring ...

(Mesa Airlines), the

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

(Wings West), the

(Cable Commuter Airlines and Golden West), the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia (SkyWest) and the

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, Cabin pressurization, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation, Swearingen ...

(SkyWest, Wings West and Inland Empire). C&M Airlines and Indian Wells Airlines operated small

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...

prop aircraft. Scheduled passenger airline service ended following the cessation of

flights operated by

SkyWest SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest operates and maintains aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by four partner mainline airlines. The company is contracted by ...

in November 2013.Jack Barnwell,
Bye-bye Boutique: Airport board votes to terminate short-lived air service
, "The Daily Independent", October 13, 2017 On July 7, 2017, airport officials awarded a contract to

Boutique Air Boutique Air, Inc. is a commuter airline based in San Francisco, California, United States. The airline offers charter services as well as scheduled passenger services subsidized under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. In 2019, Boutique ...

to begin daily flights to

starting August 8, 2017. However, on October 12, 2017, the Indian Wells Valley Airport District board of directors voted to terminate its contract with Boutique Air following a 60-day notice. The airport currently does not have any scheduled passenger service but does have air cargo service.

Drag racing

The Inyokern Airport Dragstrip opened in 1954, and was the second oldest continuously operating

dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...

in the United States, behind Thornhill Dragstrip in Kenton, KY which opened in 1953. The drag strip closed during the 2005 season due to new

regulations.

Soaring

Beginning in the 1950s, regular glider records were set out of Inyokern in various sources of lift. Due to its location on the lee side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, it is an excellent location for altitude records in wave conditions or distance and speed records in thermal lift. It is a challenging location, as the winds change frequently, but with three long runways pilots generally have a variety of options for launch and landing. Many well known pilots have flown gliders out of Inyokern, including

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

, Paul Bikle, and

Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraf ...

. Presently Inyokern Airport is the home to Sierra Soaring Club, which operates a

Cessna 182 The Cessna 182 Skylane is an American four-seat, single-engined light airplane built by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas. It has the option of adding two child seats in the baggage area. Introduced in 1956, the 182 has been produced in a ...

for towing gliders, a Blanik L-23 for rides and instruction, and a Schweizer 1-35 and

Standard Cirrus The Standard Cirrus is a FAI Standard Class, Standard-class Glider (sailplane), glider built in Germany by Schempp-Hirth. The Standard Cirrus was produced between 1969 and 1985, when the Schempp-Hirth Discus, Discus replaced it. Over 800 examp ...

for wave flights and cross country soaring.

Film history

In the wake of the drag strip's closing, the airport has been actively promoting its use for film shoots, with the Ridgecrest Regional Film Commission marketing its (Runway 28) as "the region's #1 filming location". A notable example of this new use is a

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

titled "Gravity", for the

Lexus IS The is a compact executive car ( D-segment in Europe) sold by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota, since 1998. The IS was originally sold under the nameplate in Japan from 1998 until 2005 (the word ''Altezza'' is Italian for 'height' or 'high ...

. The airdrop "target" featured in the commercial, where the falling automobile hits the ground, was painted on the old drag strip; however, many of the vehicle shots preceding the car drop actually feature the Lexus rolling down runway 20. Other notable automotive television ads shot here include most spots from

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab AB, a Swedish aircraft, aerospace and defence company, still known as SAAB, and together with subsidiaries as Saab Group ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab ...

's "Born from Jets" campaign, as well as spots for

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Mazda is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

, Ford, and

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

, just to name a few. Movies have also utilized the airport for shooting, including the aviation blockbuster '' Top Gun: Maverick'', which used the hangar facility for scenes with

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

working on a vintage aircraft.

Facilities and aircraft

Inyokern Airport covers an area of at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has three

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

paved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 15/33 is , 2/20 is , and 10/28 is For the 12-month period ending March 22, 2021, the airport had about 33,000 aircraft operations, an average of 90 per day: 81%

, 9%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, 5%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

, and 4% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 29 aircraft based at this airport: 25 single-engine and 4 multiengine airplanes.

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Inyokern Airport was used by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

's as Harvey Field and opened on May 10, 1944. Harvey Field was also used as Inyokern Auxiliary Field. Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern opened on December 12, 1943 with a 900-square mile test range.

Vought F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Vought, Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production con ...

trained at the base. Harvey Field is named after Lieutenant Commander Warren W. Harvey for his work on aviation Ordnance for aircraft. Harvey commanded Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) before the start of WW2. Started the plans for fighting plane tactics. Harvey Field closed in April 1946. The airstrip was built as an emergency landing field in 1935.The Early Days: Naval Air Facility, China Lake Museum Foundation, Jan 2017 -
/ref>

Airlines and destinations

Cargo

References

External links

Inyokern Airport
official site
Aerial image as of May 1994
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a Collaboration, collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the eff ...

'' * {{US-airport-ga, IYK Airports in Kern County, California Defunct drag racing venues Defunct motorsport venues in the United States 1954 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 1954