Two days ago I received a call from Monte Bowe at Chino airport. He is a hangar mate with Frank Vranicar and is about to move next door, so was looking for a replacement. They are both L-19 Bird Dog enthusiasts and have wonderfully restored planes from the early 50s that they proudly fly and display at airshows. The hangar is 50'x50' and has a restroom, slop sink, 110 and 220 power and 16' high sliding doors. The third plane in the hangar is an RV-6 being kept by the family of a deceased pilot. Today I met Frank and Monte and signed up to rent 1/3rd of the hangar starting 1/1/2008. Because the RV-6 only gets flown about once a quarter, Frank is actually looking for another low wing plane, making the rent for each of us just 1/4 of the total. The RV would go in behind his Army Bird Dog, and the other two low wing planes that are being actively flown or worked on would be up front by the door. I'm very pleased to be able to land a hangar spot at such low cost (relatively speaking) in the LA basin. There is a severe hangar shortage and I'm probably 3 to 5 years from getting my own hangar at Chino. At John Wayne, make that 15 to 20 years! Chino is a Class D airport at 652' MSL and has one crosswind runway (3/21) that is 6023 feet long. The parallel main runways (8/26 R&L) are 4858 and 7000 feet long. All runways are 150' wide. There are Zenith aircraft that could takeoff and land across the width of these runways! I know I'll have the hangar months before my plane is ready, but I couldn't afford to pass up this opportunity. Knowing that I have a hangar almost certainly cinches my decision to polish the plane.
Airport map of CNO. I'm six hangar rows due north of the tower.
Frank's Bird Dog (and a Hum Vee that is moving next door with Monte)
