FEATURED AIRSTRIP: LONE PINE, CALIFORNIA
January 21, 2025
Each month we highlight an airstrip with hopes that you will get out and enjoy these special places. This month, we’re featuring Lone Pine, California.
Lone Pine Airport, O26 is a great place to stage exploration of backcountry airstrips in the West, such as Panamint Springs Resort, and Death Valley National Park, including Chicken Strip in the Saline Valley; and Whitney Portal, a wooded canyon with campgrounds within towering granite cliffs. Trails from the Portal access the John Muir Wilderness, and Sequoia National Park.
This airport has become highly appealing to recreational pilots and visitors, thanks to a crew of Friends of Lone Pine Airport volunteers who recognized the airport’s historic past, and its recreational potential. Since 2022, the RAF has awarded two grants to assist with infrastructure improvements. Visitors now enjoy modern flush toilets, and its refreshed historic 1940s terminal that now serves as a pilot shelter, meeting room, and kitchen for visitors’ use. Thanks to contributions from the RAF and local partners, more improvements are planned for the terminal building in 2025.
The airport has a 3,990-foot asphalt runway, and dirt crosswind option, 24-hr fuel and AWOS. It’s close to the small town’s restaurants, diners, and hotels. At 3,678 elevation, visitors can look west a dozen miles and see 14,491-ft Mount Whitney, California’s highest peak. Phenomenally, just 60 miles to the east of Lone Pine is Death Valley’s Furnace Creek airport, where your altimeter winds backwards to below sea level as you roll onto final. You’re now in the Western Hemisphere’s lowest elevation.
Lone Pine’s Backcountry Fly-in usually happens in early October, and locals lead fly-outs to unique and interesting airstrips in the surrounding desert – some of which are supported by the RAF. The old “Tunnel Air Camp” hangar – former headquarters for bush pilot guides – was also rejuvenated, and at the 2024 fly-in, a local band used it for a stage to entertain Lone Pine guests. The airport is owned by the City of Los Angeles, and leased for public access by Inyo County.
For more information on Lone Pine, see the Airfield Guide.
Submitted January 29, 2025
By Carmine Mowbray
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