Mid-air collision in Corona, California

[FLYTPAY]

Yeah, but if you really know Corona, you have had lunch at the Women's Prison...........

conjugal lunch?

 

[HeyJoe]

conjugal lunch?

Nope....it's a former resort from the 20s popular with Hollywood crowd until better cars and roads allowed them to venture to Palm Springs. It was passed by and then abandoned. The State took the main lodge and turned it into a Correctional Facility for Women now called the California Institute for Women. The Navy got the lake and smaller resort building that is used for offsites as well as lots of buildings that now house NSWC Corona.

Building atop the hill in distance at entrance to Corona is "the Big House".

Lake in distance belongs to Navy and has nice offsite location for meetings in the former Boathouse.

I was at the "Boathouse" in 1992 at a meeting and when it came time for lunch, the organizer said, "Why don't we go to the Big House for lunch?" We all followed his lead not knowing anyhting about what he was talking about until we drove around a lot of triple rolls of concertina and lots of security, but not that much different than a high security Navy facility. But when we walked through processing and saw lots of people lined up for visitation, it started looking a bit strange. Our guide led us past the line and waved at guard behind glass (still like a Navy secure) facility and then into a beautiful botanical paradise with nothing but women in jeans and denim shirts tending to the flowers along the manicured walks and terraces. He leads us up to the "Big House", which is massive like the lodge in The Shining with half timber construction and high ceilings. We walked down a hallway with classrooms that looked like a junior college or Navy educational facility, again with women of all ages in denim everywhere. We then went into a massve hall with huge fireplace and a cafeteria where you could ask for as much as you want from more women in denim. As we sat down, our guest finally tells us we are in the Women's Prison. Lunch was $2.50 but the expereince was priceless. Got to go again the next year and like Crossing the Line, I was a Shellback and enjoyed taking the Wogs up to the Big House unawares.

 

[invertedflyer]

conjugal lunch?

Hey fellas, I thought we agreed to keep my activities on the DL!

Intersting info HJ. Does the NSWC itself have a chow hall? If so, is it any good?

 

[HeloBubba]

Well the NTSB weenie was just on the news and gave the following facts (but no conclusions yet): The C150 was piloted by a couple of youngsters out the FlyCorona Academy. They were in the pattern flying eastward in the downwind leg. The C172 was being piloted by a 73-year-old dude taking his 55-year-old neighbor for a ride, they were entering the pattern. The two kids were ejected from their aircraft as a result of the collision. The NTSB said they there is "signature evidence" and paint transfer that indicates that one aircraft hit the other. He said that he was still gathering facts and that a conclusion would come later.

 

[tlevine]

That hit pretty close to home. Use to fly out of there with a friend and took flight lessons out of Fullerton. In fact, that same friend I flew with out of there had just purchased a new airplane and had to divert en route from Corona airport to another because of that crash. Prayers for the families, a horible tragedy.