Compton California

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brianwrites

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Brianwrites
Anybody ever taken lessons at the Compton airport KCPM? Looking to pick up some hours for my PPL while on the Left Coast.
 
How do the uncontrolled parallel runways work? Do people use both simultaneously or is the local courtesy to only use one?
 
jkaduk said:
Since it was a major motion picture I suspect even the pastiest of us got it. Except for those that pay no attention to what's at the movies.
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But I was referring to the album from back in the day.
 
When departing, I'd tie up the CTAF for about three minutes with my rendition of that song:

"Arrow 8 1 tango is his name, and the plane's headed
straight outta compton
is a plane that's the bane of skylanes
departing to the south like my brains

dangerous, little Piper taking off
and it's not normal 'cuz I'm acting like it's soft

I'm passing twenty one, and I'll be headed for six five
and if there's any traffic, please advise"

etc
 
25 right is for us foreigners, 25 left is for locals. You do closed traffic on 25 left enough and aren't a local and you'll find out...

There are noise abatement provisions in place, if you are landing on calm wind runways (25), make sure you go between the two schools on the left base turn. Also it is real tight on the airspace with Hawthorne to make your left crosswind by the time you are above the high voltage power lines.

Nothing like calling my home airport and stating "straight out of compton" for a position report :D

It is an interesting place for sure.
 
Who would intentionally go to Compton? It is NOT a nice place.

Lessons can be had at several nearby airports where you can park your car for a lesson and it will still be there afterward. Like Torrance or Long Beach.
 
I usually fly in to Fullerton when I go to that area. Not that Fullerton is a particularly nice area either, but parking and car rentals are easier to deal with, and they do flight instruction there as well.
 
I like Fullerton and the FBO was very helpful there. Inexpensive parking in the hangar, handy rental car and nearby a reasonably priced clean motel.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I usually fly in to Fullerton when I go to that area. Not that Fullerton is a particularly nice area either, but parking and car rentals are easier to deal with, and they do flight instruction there as well.
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What? Fullerton isn't a nice area anymore? And you're putting it in Compton-Class?

The area around KFUL has many modest homes and apartments but it improves quickly as you drive towards Downtown and the University. (much like other municipal airports)

Note: Ravioli is being reactionary because he was born in Fullerton and lived in the area for 33 years ;)
 
mmm...Bludso's BBQ and M&M Soul Food. Neither are w/in walking distance of CPM but they're worth a trip to Compton. Of course there's always the Chuck-E-Cheese within walking distance of Torrance. :rolleyes:

Nauga,
who is alwayz into somethin'
 
Fullerton was a great place to learn to fly in the 1960s, and I've enjoyed my infrequent visits there since. It packs a lot of busy airport into a very small footprint of real estate. As for Compton, that was the locus of my only aircraft accident (5/5/1971), and I haven't been back since I quit instructing in '72.

19710505-03.jpg
 
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I find this timely since I just landed there for the first time yesterday. I didn't actually stop, just taxi'd back again. From the looks of the row of planes missing wings and engines it seems to fit the compton stereotype though.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I usually fly in to Fullerton when I go to that area. Not that Fullerton is a particularly nice area either, but parking and car rentals are easier to deal with, and they do flight instruction there as well.
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rolivi said:
What? Fullerton isn't a nice area anymore? And you're putting it in Compton-Class?

The area around KFUL has many modest homes and apartments but it improves quickly as you drive towards Downtown and the University. (much like other municipal airports)

Note: Ravioli is being reactionary because he was born in Fullerton and lived in the area for 33 years ;)
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I have to agree with rolivi, Fullerton is nice. One of the dealerships I work at is right around the corner from there. There's a train station right near the airport, lots of hotels down the street due to proximity to Knotts Berry Farm, shopping, just about anything you are looking for.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I usually fly in to Fullerton when I go to that area. Not that Fullerton is a particularly nice area either, but parking and car rentals are easier to deal with, and they do flight instruction there as well.
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Jeff Oslick said:
Jeez, really feelin' the love over here...
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I lived in Fullerton for a while, and it was one of the nicest places I've ever lived - great community, responsive city government, some good history, lots to do - and a good airport. I suppose that, if all you'd seen of the town was what's immediately around the airport, you might think it a little industrial, but even that area is no dump. We chose living in Fullerton and commuting to work (wife, Newport Beach, me, Peoples' Republik of Irvine), over living closer to work. It was a good choice.

One of the few things I miss about California is Fullerton. I've been back, and it's still nice.
 
nauga said:
mmm...Bludso's BBQ and M&M Soul Food. Neither are w/in walking distance of CPM but they're worth a trip to Compton. Of course there's always the Chuck-E-Cheese within walking distance of Torrance. :rolleyes:

Nauga,
who is alwayz into somethin'
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There are several good restaurants on Hawthorne, and last time I looked (admittedly, some time ago), there were a few at Rolling Hills Center as well.

Too bad Farrell's has been closed for years....that was walking (and crashing) distance.
 
I'm not saying Fullerton is bad, necessarily, but you have to admit, it's close to some seedy areas. The airport itself down to Disneyland isn't bad, but go sideways and you could end up in Compton...
 
Sac Arrow said:
but you have to admit, it's close to some seedy areas.
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For someone hailing from Oakland, you have an interesting idea of what "seedy" looks like. Adjacent to the west, south and east, light commercial/industrial mixed with a typical middle class neighborhood. A middle class job doesn't buy you a lot of house in Fullerton. Light/medium industrial surrounds to the north. Go a less than a mile north from the airport an you'll find $700K+ homes.

The area to the southeast of the airport probably has the highest concentration of homeless in Fullerton, but that is because the National Guard armory is there that provides food and shelter.

I would (and have) walked anywhere near the airport, and the adjoining neighborhoods.

I've also worked for a few months in Compton. So long as you don't go out of your way to act like an idiot or a target, it's no big deal.
 
Same deal with Oakland. I don't live there by the way, but I spend a fair amount of time working there. There are some very bad parts, but most of it is a yawn, and there are expensive neighborhoods there as well.

Image, my man. Oakland representin'. Compton Representin'. Yo.
 
Compton? There's a reason why you look for "the tombstones" (two white buildings) to find the airport.

Beach Cities Aviation out of Hawthorne if you have to be in that particular area.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Image, my man. Oakland representin'.
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I used to be into Oakland but then it got too mainstream. Still some cool clubs there, but they're pretty underground. You've probably never heard of them...

;):D

Nauga,
who doesn't ride a fixie and has no facial hair
 
Was the field former military? Not grasping why a civilian field has two closely spaced parralels like that, or what they were thinking... Did there used to be crosswind runways in the past?
 
In one of the early-1990s "Wide World of Flying" videos, Plane & PIlot's Bill Cox does a pilot report of the new American General Tiger. There are some nice take-off, approach and landing scenes of the Tiger at Compton, shot from another airplane in close formation on the parallel runway.
 
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