If you love looking at and talking about beautifully restored classic airplanes from the 1930s and 1940s, start planning a trip to see Kent and Sandy Blankenburg's airplanes and collection of period memorabilia at Pine Mountain Lake Airport in Groveland, California.
This airport fills a number of needs for California pilots. National park-bound fliers can park on the ramp for a few days, rent a car, and drive up into the spectacular Yosemite Valley. The Corsair Café, situated on the airport, has recently been taken over by sisters Shirley, Carolyn, and Michelle, so fly-in visitors can enjoy breakfast and lunch every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.
Located four miles down the road to the west is Groveland and the Groveland Hotel. This historic inn and restaurant has been restored and boasts an award-winning chef and wine list.
Antique Aero — the welcome is equal to the respect
If you have gotten the feeling that life is predictable and humdrum, one visit to see the Blankenburgs' collection of beautifully maintained airplanes will transport you back to a time filled with innocence and wonder. Antique Aero is housed in the Blankenburgs' green-roofed hangars located south of the numbers on the west end of the airport. Most days — unless they're out flying one of their airplanes — the hangar door is open and guests are welcome.
The quickest way to irritate Kent — and he's normally an extremely gracious, man — is to dust his hangar. Those who aren't familiar with the term, or who perhaps wonder what all the fuss is about, should put themselves in this scene: Gather a collection of irreplaceable airplanes in your hangar. Open the doors so that others can share your good fortune in being the caretakers of this collection of classic airplanes. Number among your blessings a wife who shares your love of airplanes and who has spent countless hours keeping the hangar as clean as a museum. Then have an airplane driver (people who do this aren't pilots) taxi his airplane up to your hangar and, by adding lots of power, turn the airplane until the prop blast pelts everything inside with dirt and dust.
Since a few unthinking pilots have dusted the Blankenburgs' hangar, everyone is now requested to park in the transient parking area and walk down for a visit.
Pine Mountain Lake Airport is located in the foothills of Tuolumne County, about 20 miles west of the entrance to Yosemite National Park. You'll be over the airport if you fly 41 nautical miles out the 092-degree radial off of Linden VOR (114.8 MHz) or 40 miles out the 001-degree radial off of El Nido (114.2 MHz) VOR.
This is gold country, characterized by rolling hills and rivers flowing toward the central valley from the Sierras. The single 3,625-by-50-foot runway is aligned east and west (Runway 9/27), and the traffic pattern is on the north side of the field at 3,930 feet. The runway is lower at the middle than at the touchdown zones, but this is a minor fault. The wind indicator is on the south side of the runway, east of the ramp.
According to Blankenburg, the winds generally favor Runway 9 during the early and late parts of each day, but swing around to favor Runway 27 during the middle of the day. The CTAF of 123.05 MHz is congested, but the bulk of the calls (from Columbia and Byron airports) are blocked at pattern altitude.
Both Blankenburg and Peggy Mosley, a local Beechcraft Sierra pilot and the innkeeper of the Groveland Hotel, asked me to warn pilots about the hazards of night landings at Pine Mountain Lake Airport. Although the airport has lights for night landings (MIRL, PAPI, and VASI), the real hazards are the large deer herds that gather on and near the runway. In November, a landing airplane killed a deer on the runway. The pilot, who said he never saw the deer, escaped without injury, but the airplane was damaged after veering off the runway and down an embankment before coming to a stop.
The Groveland Hotel is located four miles from the airport in the town of Groveland. Mosley heard about the Pine Mountain Lake Airport, with its nearby golf course, at a meeting of the local chapter of The Ninety-Nines in 1978. Since she is a pilot and her husband is a golfer, the couple flew in, liked what they saw, bought a lot, and built a house.
Twelve years later they bought the hotel, which they restored over a two-year period. One part of the hotel is of adobe construction and dates from 1849. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this building was patterned after the Monterey Colonial style first introduced in Monterey.
The 1849 adobe section and the 1914 annex, built to house VIPs working on the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir project, combine to form the Groveland Hotel's 17 unique rooms — which are watched over by Lyle, the ghost of a long-expired gold miner. Down comforters, resident teddy bears, and an excellent restaurant make each stay memorable. Transportation from the airport is provided. For more information, call 800/273-3314 or visit the Web site ( www.groveland.com).
Outdoor activities
This part of California has many activities for fly-in visitors. River rafting is widely available, as is hiking. In the winter, consider exchanging your hiking boots for snowshoes or cross-country skis. Enterprise Rent-A-Car ( www.pickenterprise.com) has cars available for visitors, or transportation can be arranged by contacting the airport shuttle (209/632-0333 or [email protected]) or by phoning Doyle Cummings (209/962-0883), the limo man. For more information on lodging near Groveland visit the Web site ( www.yosemitepark.com/html/accomodation.html).
The Pine Mountain Lake area ( www.pinemountainlake.com) has an equestrian center and a highly regarded golf course.
Information related to upcoming events at the Pine Mountain Lake Airport, and a sky view from an airport Web cam, can be found on the Web ( http://wallacecompany.com/Q68/).
There's even a hangar home that host Ralph McDonald rents to fly-in guests. For more information, call 800/495-9619 or visit the Web site ( www.chaletdefontenay.com).
Pine Mountain Lake Airport is a fine destination for breakfast or lunch and can be a convenient jumping-off place for adventures in gold country or Yosemite National Park. The Blankenburgs' custom of generously sharing their beautifully restored classic airplanes is a wonderful gift to airplane lovers. Make sure you thank them if you make a stop at Pine Mountain Airport.
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