Sierra Sky Park Airport is a privately owned, public-use airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 located seven miles (11 km) northwest of the central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of Fresno

Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

, a city in Fresno County

Fresno County, California

Fresno County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. As of the 2010 census, it is the tenth most populous county in California with a population of 930,450, and the sixth largest in size with an area of . The county...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Other area airports are Fresno Chandler Executive Airport

Fresno Chandler Executive Airport

Fresno Chandler Executive Airport is a public use airport located two nautical miles west of the central business district of Fresno, a city in Fresno County, California, United States. It is owned by the City of Fresno....

 and Fresno Yosemite International Airport

Fresno Yosemite International Airport

Fresno Yosemite International Airport , formerly known as Fresno Air Terminal, is a joint civil-military public airport located in eastern Fresno, in Fresno County, California. The airport is more than south of Yosemite National Park on California State Route 41. The airport covers and has two...

.

History

Sierra Sky Park was created in 1946 on 130 acre

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

s (52 ha) nestled against the San Joaquin River

San Joaquin River

The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...

, and is the first residential aviation community

Airpark

thumb|right|Hangar homes at [[Independence State Airport]].A residential airpark is also referred to as a "fly-in community". The word can also refer to a community specifically designed around an airport where the residents each would own their own airplane which they park in their hangar usually...

 in the world. William and Doris Smilie are credited for creating this airport/neighborhood hybrid and in 1953 built the first of the 110 homes in the project. Residents can land, taxi down extra-wide avenues, and pull up and park in the driveway at home.

Facilities and aircraft

Sierra Sky Park Airport covers an area of 34 acres (13.8 ha) which contains one runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

 designated 12/30 with a 2,920 x 50 ft (890 x 15 m) asphalt

Asphalt

Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 pavement. For the 12-month period ending March 29, 2007, the airport had 12,500 general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

aircraft operations, an average of 34 per day. At that time there were 40 aircraft based at this airport:
98 percent single-engine and 2 percent multi-engine.