Buttman

In 1955 I was a USAF exchange pilot to Navy tail hook Squadron, VF-23,
(F2H-3 Big Banshee) stationed at Moffett Field.

We used Crows Landing for simulated carrier approaches and landing
training along with LSO training.


Big John
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On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:37:34 -0700, buttman wrote:

Theres this really weird airport in my area called Crows landing. Its
charted on the sectional just like any other airport, except it had
the word "(CLOSED)" written underneath. Does anyone know why they
chose to chart is like that and not the normal circle with an "X"
through it?

I've been doing some googling, and this is what I have learned about
the airport: It was first a Navy airport in WWII, used to train Navy
pilots. After the war, it was used as an auxiliary base (whatever that
means, I'm not a military type). In 1993, the Navy gave it to NASA,
and they used it primarily for testing certain technologies they were
working on. NASA apparently closed it in 1999 because they couldn't
afford it anymore. Now, the county owns it and uses it for training
police officers and stuff. I also found some Usenet postings where
people talked about flying RC planes from the field.

Anyways, I found this little blurb from this website:
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/...lley.htm#crows

Jack Daley reported in 2003 that " [...] The airfield is X'd off, but
local trainers still shoot occasional touch & go's."

Are you allowed to do that? Land at an airport that is charted as
"closed"? As long as the runways are in good condition (which they
are), is it OK to land there? Can the FAA bust you for any violation
for doing something like that? I've always been interested in historic
things, and I'd love to go a quick t&g there, but I don't want to get
in trouble. Or at least it seems like a great place to do practice
emergency landings...