By Charles Jackson

Those of us who fly out of Hollister (California) Airport are fortunate to have a very good general aviation airport with a long, wide main runway and a very much needed crosswind runway.

But, like many uncontrolled airports with crossing runways, runway incursions are an ongoing threat, one that must be guarded against constantly. Because of this, a look at our hazards and the precautions we take might be helpful to those flying out of similar airports.

We have quite a mix of traffic – light airplanes coming and going as well as doing flight instruction, fire fighting aircraft, gliders being towed and landing, even a few jets. It can be busy, especially on weekends, and there have been close calls, but so far no runway accidents.

Probably our biggest handicap on this airport is the fact that the approach ends (the ends from which takeoffs begin) of the two runways are not visible from each other due to the hangars on the main ramp. Add to this the fact that the firefighting aircraft, because of their weight, cannot use the crosswind runway for takeoff.