History of Oxnard Airport
Oxnard Airport is a county-owned, public airport a mile west of downtown Oxnard, in Ventura County, California. Ventura County opened Oxnard Airport in 1934 by clearing a 3,500 ft dirt runway. In the 1930s aviator Howard Hughes erected a tent at the airport to shelter his famous H-1 monoplane racer, which he tested from the dirt strip. In 1938 Ventura County paved the dirt runway and built a large hangar. In 1939 James McLean opened the Oxnard Flying School. Housing was built nearby for instructors and students at the school.
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In late 1941, the airport was assigned to the U.S. Navy until the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu could be completed. The Navy moved to NAS Point Mugu in 1945 and the Oxnard Flying School returned to the airport. Ventura County regained control of the airport in 1948, receiving a final quitclaim deed. The state of California issued the airport an operating permit in 1949.
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Scheduled airline service started in 1946 with Southwest Airways flying Douglas DC-3s on a multi-stop route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The airport has not had scheduled passenger service since June 8, 2010, when United ended flights to Los Angeles International Airport.
Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 15,961 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 12,060 in 2009 and 4,074 in 2010. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 called it a primary commercial service airport based on enplanements in 2008 (over 10,000 per year). By the time of the next NPIAS report, for 2015–2019, Oxnard Airport had been downgraded to a regional general aviation airport with only 19 enplanements.
Issues with Oxnard Airport
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Since the end of commercial flights in 2010 touch and go operations by flight schools and hobbyists are 60 to 70 percent of airport traffic and result in problems for the community with no community benefit.​
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Old single engine aircraft operating at full throttle on take-off generate noise levels in excess of 75db and in some cases as high as 100db.​
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General Aviation aircraft are the most prone to accidents. In July and August 2022 there were crashes at Camarillo and Oxnard Airports. ​
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The only engines allowed to operate on leaded fuel are those used in aviation. These are mostly older single engine planes such as those doing touch and go training. Studies around similar airports have shown a significant increased level of lead in school children.​
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Although the Country owns and runs Oxnard Airport, the City of Oxnard controls development around it. Over the last 25 years major development has occurred which is not consistent with airport operations.​​​​​​
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Most of the touch and go operations do not generate income to the City or the County, yet they represent between 60 to 70 percent of the airport operations. ​
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Touch and Go Operations
Over the last five years the residents of Oxnard Shores, Channel Islands and other neighborhoods along Wooley Road have complained about the constant fly overs from flight schools doing touch and go landing patterns from Oxnard Airport. Residents are aware of the problems living near an airport, but the complete disregard for established rules and procedures, which ignore Oxnard Airports own mission statement, are not acceptable.
Currently, flight school aircraft doing hours of touch and go loops, which constitutes 60 to 70 percent of airport operations, turn left after leaving the airport and fly over the heavily populated areas south of the airport. This results in noise, safety, and pollution problems for the community. The regular flights out of Oxnard Airport usually fly out over the ocean before making a turn and present minor risk to the community, but flight schools with constant loops over our neighborhood do.
The airport management has talk to the community about this issue the answer is always the same: we have NO control over the pilots after they leave the airport. Many of these schools come from other airports and seem to be operating because of the generosity of the taxpayers of the city of Oxnard and pay no landing fees or purchase products from the airport.
Noise
Although noise is expected around airports, and those living near the airport accept this reality, noise levels of aircraft are subject to monitoring by federal law. They are supposed to be within a certain dB range and the airport is responsible for Noise Exposure Maps that accurately show the effects of airport operations. In the case of Oxnard Airport this has not been done.
Consequently, aircraft performing primarily touch and go training fly over many neighborhoods in Oxnard at dB rating higher than allowed either by the federal government or the City of Oxnard.
The following videos were taken 14 months apart and demonstrate the lack of progress being made at reducing the problem. In each video planes were flying over Oxnard Shores approximately every two minutes.
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Oxnard Shores Flyovers.mp4
Oxnard Shores 932022
Safety
Most traffic out of Oxnard Airport is flight schools teaching students to take off and land which is called a touch and go. This is a repeated pattern of quick take offs, circling back and landing only to repeat again and again. Touch and Go’s often circle a dozen times, sometimes with multiple planes in the pattern. These touch and go’s fly older aircraft which are excessively loud, use leaded fuel and are allowed to fly as low as 700 feet over homes, schools and businesses. They put us at risk.
Recently, two separate plane crashes occurred in Ventura within 30 days of each other.
The flights that crashed were not touch and go’s. These destination flights were flying at high altitudes that allowed the experienced pilots to take emergency measures to avoid catastrophe.
On July 10, a plane crashed on an emergency approach to the Oxnard Airport, narrowly missing pedestrians and vehicles on Ventura Road (see picture above). Data from this flight show that trouble began when this plane was at an altitude of 6500 feet. Within minutes, as the pilot took emergency action, the flight rapidly dropped to just hundreds of feet while flying over Oxnard homes. From 6500 feet the experienced pilot had just enough time and glide ratio to avoid complete catastrophe.
June 10, a flight from Camarillo airport crashed into Oxnard strawberry fields, again with an experienced pilot doing what he could to avoid catastrophe. Unfortunately, in this case the pilot lost his life.
Lead Pollution
The Oxnard Shores neighborhood is concerned about the pollution caused by aircraft operating touch and go landings at OXR. Flight schools, clubs and individuals doing touch and go landings trainings are using older single engine aircraft such as the Cessna 172 which operate on leaded fuel. These aircraft are one of the only exceptions to the rule which requires unleaded fuel to be used. The use of leaded fuel has been shown to be harmful to the people, especially children, and the environment.
Lead has been considered a toxic element for many years and is prohibited in every form of transportation fuel except Avgas. Health organizations agree that there is no known safe level of lead in a child’s blood, and that exposure to even a small amount of lead has a negative effect on cognitive ability, particularly in developing children who absorb lead more efficiently than older children and adults. In fact, a ten-year study concluded in 2020 commissioned by Santa Clara County found that the continued use of leaded aviation fuel has contributed to increased blood lead levels, particularly for those within a half-mile of the Reid-Hillview Airport – an GA controlled airport similar to OXR.*.
The Oxnard Shores Neighborhood Council believes that the amount of lead contamination contributed by the airport, and its health impact on people – particularly children – who will be living, playing, and going to school around the airport - needs to be addressed.
Development
Although the county owns and operates the airport, it is surrounded by the city of Oxnard and within the city’s Sphere of Influence. Oxnard controls the development around the airport and provides two of the five seats on the Oxnard Airport Authority Board. The city has supported significant development surrounding the airport that directly affects the operation of the airport. Twenty-five years ago, the director of airports for Ventura County, as well as concerned citizens, in a response to the EIR for the North Shore's development, argued that the development should not go forward since it was located a mile from the end of the runway and would create a problem for airport operations. The city went ahead and approved the project anyway assuring the county, developer, and residents of Oxnard Shores that flights would veer to the right upon take off and avoid overflights of the residential areas, but that did not happen.
Early photo of Oxnard Airport looking southwest across Fifth Street
In the ensuing 25 years, development around the airport continued but the initial concerns were never addressed, and overflights of our community have continued unabated. At the same time the purpose of the Oxnard airport has changed dramatically. With commercial traffic ending 14 years ago, and with little oversight from the Oxnard Aviation Advisory Board, no plan for the future of the airport was ever proposed or implemented. Consequently, the airport has deteriorated, and is now primarily used by hobbyists and flight schools located throughout Southern California for touch and go landings. These types of operations have created noise, safety, and pollution issues for our community and do not generate income for the airport or for the County of Ventura. In varying degrees over the last several decades, the community has complained about this but to no avail.
Further development of land around the airport is in the interest of Oxnard and is needed to help alleviate the severe housing shortage that currently exists, but it is not consistent with the operation of the airport as currently run. The county and the city as well as the public, need to address the issues of noise, safety, pollution, and the legal consequences for the County of Ventura and the City of Oxnard of not acting.
Financial Data
Most of the touch and go operations do not generate income to the City or the County, yet they represent between 60 to 70 percent of the airport operations. ​