Brown Field Municipal Airport

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Not to be confused with Charlie Brown Field, at Fulton County Airport, Georgia.

Brown Field Municipal Airport

IATA: SDM – ICAO: KSDM – FAA: SDM
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		City of San Diego
Serves		San Diego, California
Elevation AMSL		526 ft / 160 m
Coordinates		32°34′20″N 116°58′49″W / 32.57222, -116.98028
Website		www.sandiego.gov
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
8L/26R	7,972	2,430	Asphalt/Concrete
8R/26L	3,180	969	Asphalt

Brown Field Municipal Airport (IATA: SDM, ICAO: KSDM, FAA LID: SDM) is located 13 miles (21 kilometers) southeast of San Diego, California and named in honor of United States Navy Commander Melville S. Brown, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1936. Its FAA/IATA airport code of SDM probably comes from "San Diego Municipal". Formerly a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS), it is now a port of entry from Mexico. It is sometimes staffed by the U.S. Customs Service, but only upon the request of incoming pilots to the FAA.

It first opened in 1918 as East Field, later becoming NAAS Otay Mesa and then NAAS Brown Field, both in 1943. It was last used by the U.S. Navy in 1962, before becoming converted for general aviation use. Its primary runway is 7,972-feet long.

1 Caveat
2 Notable accidents
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Caveat

Tijuana Airport is just over 1 nm to the south, with a similar length and a slightly different runway orientation (09 / 27) but is clearly a commercial passenger facility.

In addition, a precision approach is not possible to either runway end due to steep, rising terrain (elevation 3,600-feet) less than six miles east of the airport. There have been several crashes due to pilots not maintaining sufficient altitude over these nearby mountains (often flying VFR at night).

[edit] Notable accidents

March 16, 1991, Seven members of Reba McEntire's band and her road manager were among 10 people who died in the crash of a plane that departed from Brown Field. The aircraft impacted terrain on Otay Mountain northeast of the airport.^[1]