Military Runway Reopens in Los Alamitos After $2-Million Facelift

Blackhawk helicopters, cargo planes and even Air Force One land at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base—making the longest runway in Orange County also one of the area's most prominent.

But the traffic took a toll.

Three years ago, the runway was so chewed up that base officials declared parts of it inoperable. Last November, they shut it down completely. Loose chunks of concrete and asphalt were so prevalent that they could have been "ingested into an aircraft engine and possibly cause [it] to explode," said Chief Warrant Officer J.D. Brown, who runs the airfield.

In August, however, the base wrapped up a $2-million runway facelift funded by the Department of Defense.

Repair crews spent three years removing and rebuilding portions of the runway, installing new center lighting and filling cracks with sealant. Brown said the runway is once again fully operational, and should be good to go for another five to 10 years.

Measuring 8,000 feet long by 200 feet wide, the base airstrip is second only to LAX's jumbo 12,000-foot runway among L.A.-area airfields.

Currently, the runway primarily handles military and law enforcement aircraft. Among the law enforcement agencies that train at the base are the Los Angeles Police Department, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, Border Patrol and California Highway Patrol.

Soon, a Blackhawk unit from the U.S. Army Reserve will transfer in from Victorville, adding eight helicopters to the base's current fleet of 15 Blackhawks.

Although surrounding residents and city officials , Brown doesn't think the new Blackhawks will cause problems.

“I’ve even had fighter jets [come in] since we reopened the runway...and there’s not been an increase at all in our noise complaints,” he said.