Naval Air Station Point Mugu

Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC)
IATA: NTD – ICAO: KNTD – FAA LID: NTD
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		United States Navy
Location		Point Mugu, Ventura County, near Oxnard, California
Elevation AMSL		13 ft / 4 m
Coordinates		34°07′13″N 119°07′16″W / 34.12028°N 119.12111°W / 34.12028; -119.12111Coordinates: 34°07′13″N 119°07′16″W / 34.12028°N 119.12111°W / 34.12028; -119.12111
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
3/21	11,102	3,384	Asphalt
9/27	5,504	1,678	Asphalt

Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu or NBVC Point Mugu (IATA: NTD, ICAO: KNTD, FAA LID: NTD) is a military airbase located in Point Mugu, Ventura County, California, United States. Due to realignment actions which occurred in 2000, the base is now part of Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC), a consolidated organization that also includes Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme and San Nicholas Island. The facility also shares runways with the California Air National Guard at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station.

The facility adjacent to Point Mugu, California was developed in the late 1940s as the U.S. Navy's major missile development and test facility. This facility was the site where most of the Navy's missiles were developed and tested during the 1950/1960 era, including the AIM-7 Sparrow family and the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air, Bullpup air-to-surface, and Regulus surface-to-surface missiles.

NBVC Pt. Mugu has dominated the area since the 1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural. The base has been home to many ordnance testing programs, and the test range extends offshore to the Navy-owned San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands.

In 1963 the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. The facility was relocated in 1967 to Point Loma in San Diego, California.

Point Mugu was the airfield used by former President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his Santa Barbara ranch. The airfield was also used during the state funeral honoring him in 2004, as the place where the former President's body was flown to Washington, D.C. to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The body was flown back to Point Mugu aboard presidential aircraft SAM 28000 two days later. Until the late 1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX (VXE-6), the squadron of LC-130s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility.

Outside of the air station there is also Point Mugu State Park, a popular site for viewing birds, marine mammals, and wildflowers and provides about 15,000 acres (61 km²) of protected land including beaches, riparian areas, and coastal hills and canyons. Between the park and the naval base, Mugu Lagoon provides one of the largest coastal wetlands in Southern California that has not been largely developed.

Tenant Squadrons

Aerial view of NAS Point Mugu

• Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 112
• Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 113
• Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 116
• Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 117
• Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 55
• Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30
• Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 9
• Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30
• 146th Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard

Accidents and incidents

• On 4 August 1972, Douglas DC-3 N31538 of Mercer Airlines suffered an in-flight engine fire shortly after take-off on a cargo flight to Hollywood-Burbank Airport. The aircraft departed the runway in the emergency landing and was destroyed by the subsequent fire. All three people on board survived.^[1]

• On May 18th 2011, a Boeing 707 belonging to Omega Aerial Refueling Services and chartered to the U.S. Navy skidded off the runway and burst into flames shortly after landing. A reported amount of approximately 150,000 pounds of jet fuel was onboard when the plane crashed. All three personnel aboard the aircraft survived with non life-threatening injuries.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ "N31538 Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19720804-0. Retrieved 7 September 2010. 
2. ^ "3 Passengers Escape Uninjured After Plane Crashes After Takeoff". http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/05/18/3-passengers-escape-uninjured-after-plane-crashes-after-takeoff/. Retrieved 19 May 2011. 
3. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0519-plane-crash-20110519,0,4803565.story?track=rss

• Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC), official site
• Point Mugu Air Station, GlobalSecurity.org
• FAA Airport Master Record for NTD (Form 5010 PDF)

External links

• Resources for this U.S. military airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KNTD
  • ASN accident history for NTD
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KNTD
  • FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 20 October 2011