Construction is expected to begin this year on the $10 million first phase of a new hangar project at Camarillo Airport. Todd McNamee, Ventura County’s director of airports, said the new hangars will help alleviate the shortage in capacity for all the aircraft that want to be based there and will open space for a new aviation service provider. The airfield has completed its state environmental review on the property in the northeast portion and is now in the final stages of the federal review, McNamee said. Once that environmental review process is cleared, the airport will be eligible for grant funding. It is looking to the Federal Aviation Administration to pick up about $3.5 million of the project’s cost. “They cannot issue that grant until it is environmentally cleared,” McNamee added. The $10 million cost includes about $4 million in new hangars and the remainder for infrastructure improvements and taxi lanes in between the hangars. The timeline is to get the OK on the environmental review in the next 45 to 60 days and then move quickly to get the bid package out, receive the bids back and award a contract, McNamee said. The airport will construct 41 hangars in the first phase, most of which are nested T-shaped hangars – meaning that up to six T-hangars that contain one aircraft each are in a single building. The plan also calls for seven box hangars, which can fit a 50-foot wingspan plane. “You can have a small business jet or multiple smaller aircraft,” McNamee said. At full buildout over the three planned phases, 120 hangars will be constructed. The second phase, however, won’t start for another five years, McNamee said. The airport is also setting aside space for a 100,000-square-foot aviation services facility. Once construction begins on the hangars, requests for proposals will go out at the end of this year or early next year for that structure. McNamee foresees aircraft management and storage firms as the likely tenants on the property. “We think of it as a benefit to our existing businesses,” McNamee said. “Having more airplanes on the field means more demand for the aviation services that we have. That will be good for the businesses locally.” One of two airports owned by the county, the 650-acre Camarillo airfield originated as a military base and home to U.S. Air Force jets that patrolled the California coast. It started its second life as a general aviation airport in 1976, seven years after the military base was decommissioned. As a concession to area residents, the county chopped off several thousand feet from the runway, restricted activity between midnight and 5 a.m., and prohibited commercial service. There are just less than 600 aircraft based there and it handled about 160,000 takeoffs or landings last year. The airport is in high demand as a base for private aircraft. About 130 aircraft are on the waiting list with a wait time of up to five years. The popularity of the airport comes from four large fixed-base operators there, a lot of smaller businesses serving aircraft owners, the popular Waypoint Café and an overall vibe that it is a general aviation friendly airport, McNamee said. “There are not many airports you can go to and see piston aircraft, corporate aircraft, World War II (aircraft), a wing of the Experimental Aircraft Association, helicopter flight training and a separate runway for ultralights,” he explained. “We have a lot going on.” Pilot Award Mark Oberman, founder of Channel Islands Aviation, received an award from the Federal Aviation Administration this weekend recognizing his 50 years as a pilot. The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is the federal agency’s most prestigious award for certified pilots. Oberman will have his name added to the “Roll of Honor” published on the FAA’s website. Oberman began his career as an associate engineer with McDonnell Douglas. He first soloed in an airplane in 1966 and started Channel Islands Aviation in 1976. The company began with charter flights to the Channel Islands and remains the flight concessionaire for Channel Islands National Park. “There are six islands with airports or airstrips and we go into all of them,” Ovberman said in a prepared statement. “It’s some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.” Today, the company offers executive jet charter service, aircraft maintenance and sales, hangar and office leasing and flight school training from its Camarillo Airport location. Oberman received the award on April 29 during the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association “fly-in” event at Camarillo Airport. Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or [email protected].