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Marin County Airport or Gnoss Field , formerly O56, is a public airport two miles northeast of
Novato, California Novato (Spanish language, Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, situated in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
, United States. It covers , and has one runway and one
helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...
. Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter
location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer program ...
for the FAA and
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, but Marin County Airport/Gnoss Field is DVO to the FAA and NOT to the IATA (which assigned DVO to
Francisco Bangoy International Airport Francisco Bangoy International Airport , also known as Davao International Airport, is the main airport serving Davao City and Davao Region in the Philippines. Serving as the main gateway to Mindanao, it is the busiest airport on the island an ...
in
Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a City of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the List of Philippine cities and municipalities ...
,
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). A plan was unveiled in 2014 to extend the length of Gnoss' runway by 1100', to 4400'. The FAA's final recommendation in 2016 called for a 300-foot extension, which would make Runway 31/13 3600 feet. Public commentary, especially from aviators, was negative. Many pilots contended that the FAA has underestimated the level of activity at Gnoss Field.


History

The airport was opened by the Wright family just after
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 ...
to serve the thousands of ex-military pilots expected to be flying after the war. The Wrights original privately owned airport had a dirt runway and was just west of the current airport, in what is now a grassy field. The last vestiges of the Wright airport buildings burned in a grass fire about 2005. In 1968 the County of Marin bought the airport and moved it to its present location. Somehow (stories are numerous) Gnoss's single runway is laid out almost exactly perpendicular to the prevailing onshore west winds. One of the stories for this alignment is that financing from the
Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...
government was tight so it was decided to lay out the runway in a similar fashion to the main runway at nearby
Hamilton Air Force Base Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
. A more reasonable explanation, regardless of the prevailing cross wind, is that the original runway orientation aligned squarely with Mt. Burdell, a 1500' mountain located just 1 mi. to the west. Several aircraft had collided with Mt. Burdell before the new airport was built, and the current runway orientation provided an unobstructed approach and departure from both directions. It also became feasible to design an instrument approach with the current runway orientation which has significantly increased the utility of the facility. In the mid-1960s, Marin County Supervisor William A. Gnoss, who served the district where the airport is located, obtained funds from the FAA through his friendship with then-Congressman Donald Clausen by appearing at the FAA in Washington, D.C. Funds were used for runway and hangar development. In appreciation, the entire Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to name the airport "Gnoss Field" in his honor. Gnoss Field celebrated its 50-year anniversary in 2009–2010.


Past airline service

California Air Commuter (Cal Air) was headquartered at Gnoss Field and flew from Fort Bragg, Ukiah, Clear Lake, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Gnoss Field and
San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing ...
in 1976-77. Cal Air was founded by the original fixed base operator (FBO) at Gnoss, Marin Aviation, a Piper dealer and flight school owned and operated by Richard T. Duste. Cal Air expanded south and east to San Jose, Salinas, Monterey and Sacramento, South Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Reno.
Stol Air Commuter Stol Air Commuter was a United States commuter airline that began service around . The air carrier was also known as STOL Air Commuter thus reflecting its use of STOL (short take-off and landing) aircraft. It served the San Francisco, California B ...
Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...
s and
Britten-Norman BN-2A Trislander The Britten-Norman Trislander (more formally designated the BN-2A Mk III Trislander) is a three-engined piston-powered utility aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Britten-Norman. The Trislander was designed in ...
s flew between Gnoss and San Francisco in the 1970s.


Gnoss' famous crosswinds

Gnoss Field is known to local pilots and flight instructors as an excellent airport to practice crosswind landings, especially during afternoons in the late spring and summer when the west wind picks up. The single (31/13) runway is on a similar heading as the close by
Hamilton Air Force Base Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
(closed) and
Petaluma Municipal Airport Petaluma Municipal Airport is a public airport one mile (1.6 km) northeast of Petaluma, California, Petaluma, in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, United States. It covers and has one runway measuring 3601 x 75 feet. It ...
(O69) runways, but the prevailing summer afternoon onshore west wind direction and speed at Gnoss Field are changed and amplified by proximity to Burdell Mountain, just west of the airport. When Gnoss Field's crosswinds exceed pilot or aircraft limitations, local pilots generally land at Petaluma Municipal / O69 (, 327 magnetic heading) or
Napa County Airport Napa County Airport (Napa Valley Airport) is a public airport five miles (8 km) south of Napa, in Napa County, California, United States. It has three runways. During 2008 the airport's 1960-era control tower received extensive radio, plum ...
/ KAPC (, 058 magnetic heading). Petaluma Municipal rarely has bad crosswinds on its single runway (29/11) and Napa has multiple runways. The typical Gnoss Field crosswind landing conditions on runway 31 are stronger than reported headwind on right base and, in a typical training aircraft, a slight amount of wind shear about before the runway 31 threshold, settling down to a steady crosswind - but then adding to a slight headwind component, just past the near west side hangars. Most locally based small plane pilots either land short to be going below flying speed before the end of the near west hangars or touchdown after the end of the near west side hangars for more consistent wind conditions during landing. Typical left traffic pattern 13 landings during high crosswinds are flown through varying rotor wind turbulence on the backside of Burdell Mountain and a relatively constant crosswind near the ground. AWOS reports more closely conditions on the 31 end of the runway, and wind conditions are commonly significantly different on each end of the runway. Gnoss has two windsocks. During remodeling in 2007 the "13" windsock was removed. By immediate popular demand, the 13 end windsock was replaced by airport management as soon as a replacement was located.


See also

*
List of airports in the San Francisco Bay area The following airports are in the area around the San Francisco Bay, including the cities of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. The list includes only public-use and/or government-owned airports in the eleven counties (the nine counties ...


References


External links


Gnoss Field Airport
Marin County Public Works {{Airports in the San Francisco Bay Area Airports in Marin County, California