Meadows Field
BFL · KBFL · Bakersfield, California · Kern County · map
Meadows Field is a public-use airport owned by the County of Kern, 3 miles northwest of Bakersfield, California, 510 feet above sea level. It has 2 runways; the longest, 12L/30R, is 10,849 feet of asphalt. It has a control tower, fuel (100 octane avgas, 100LL avgas, Jet A) and about 194 based aircraft. The FAA counts about 116,169 takeoffs and landings a year. About 187,004 passengers boarded flights here in the FAA's fiscal year 2024.
Weather right now KBFL · observed 3:54 pm PDT (22:54 UTC), 37 minutes ago
VFR good flying weather
- Wind from the west-northwest (300°) at 10 knots
- Visibility 10 miles or more
- Temperature 99°F (37°C), dew point 49°F (9°C)
- Altimeter 29.81 inHg
The forecast issued Tue 4:20 pm PDT (23:20 UTC), good until Wed 5:00 pm PDT (00:00 UTC)
- From Tue 5:00 pm PDT (00:00 UTC): wind from the northwest at 8 knots, visibility more than 6 miles, clear skies VFR
- From Tue 8:00 pm PDT (03:00 UTC): wind light and variable, visibility more than 6 miles, clear skies VFR
The codes as issued (METAR and TAF)
METAR KBFL 062254Z 30010KT 10SM CLR 37/09 A2981 RMK AO2 SLP087 T03720094
TAF KBFL 062320Z 0700/0724 32008KT P6SM SKC FM070300 VRB04KT P6SM SKC
From the National Weather Service's aviation weather service, refreshed every few minutes; times are local to the airport with UTC in brackets. For a flight, get your briefing from Flight Service or an approved provider.
The airport
- Codes
- FAA BFL · ICAO KBFL
- Kind
- Airport · open to the public · publicly owned
- Owner
- County of Kern
- Elevation
- 510 feet above sea level
- Control tower
- A control tower with a TRACON · 6:00 am to 11:00 pm
- Attended
- around the clock
- Lights
- runway lights see the remarks below; beacon sunset to sunrise
- Fuel
- 100 octane avgas, 100LL avgas, Jet A
- Repairs
- airframe: major repairs; engine: major repairs
- Parking
- tiedown
- Notes
- landing fee · certified for airline service (Part 139)
- On the chart
- Los Angeles sectional
- Magnetic variation
- 14E
- In the FAA's files since
- April 1940
Runways 2
For understanding the field, not for navigation.
| Runway | Length × width | Surface | Lights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12L/30R | 10,849 × 150 ft | Asphalt, good | High-intensity lights |
| 12R/30L | 7,700 × 100 ft | Asphalt, excellent | Medium-intensity lights |
- Runway 12L: PAPI, four lights on the left
- Runway 30R: ILS with DME, PAPI, four lights on the left, medium-intensity approach lights with runway alignment lights (MALSR), right-hand traffic pattern, threshold displaced 3,419 ft, 7,430 ft available for landing
- Runway 12R: PAPI, four lights on the left, right-hand traffic pattern
- Runway 30L: PAPI, four lights on the left, threshold displaced 1,499 ft, 6,203 ft available for landing, tree 45 ft high 2,150 ft from the end
Radio frequencies
| Common traffic advisory (CTAF) · Tower | 118.1 | Bakersfield |
| UNICOM | 122.95 | |
| ATIS (recorded airport information) | 118.6 | Bakersfield |
| Ground | 121.7 | Bakersfield |
| Approach South | 118.8 | Bakersfield |
| Approach · Approach and departure North | 118.9 | Bakersfield |
| Approach and departure | 119.075 | Bakersfield |
| Departure · Approach and departure North/south | 126.45 | Bakersfield |
| Emergency | 121.5 | Bakersfield |
| Bfl and vot | 111.2 | |
| Bakersfield and center (remote transmitter) Low | 127.1 | Bakersfield |
Automated weather (ASOS), by phone 661-246-3170.
Based aircraft as counted for the FAA, fiscal year 2024
Takeoffs and landings a year about 116,169, the FAA's fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024)
Local flights stay in the traffic pattern or nearby, often practice; travelling flights arrive from or leave for somewhere else. Counts at airports without a tower are the FAA's estimates.
Wind map live wind over the area, from Windy.com
Colours show wind speed, the moving lines its direction; drag the time bar for the coming days. Map and forecast by Windy.com.
Aircraft registered in Bakersfield from the FAA register
369 aircraft are registered to owners in Bakersfield, California: 258 piston singles, 30 helicopters, 22 piston twins, 22 business jets, 20 turboprops. Not every one of them is based at this airport; the based-aircraft count above is the FAA's figure for this airport alone.
Companies and organisations in town with two or more aircraft:
Individuals are counted, never named. All aircraft registered in California.
Accidents and incidents at or near this airport NTSB records · 26 since 1982, 4 fatal
Cases the NTSB recorded with this as the nearest airport, newest first. Each opens the full report in plain English.
Nearby within 30 nautical miles
The FAA's remarks as written in the airport file
- Index C rescue and firefighting (ARFF) available
- Military helicopters make all approaches to runway or paved areas. Minimize hovering and power to avoid causing blowing dust; wheeled helicopters gnd taxi only. Formation JOIN-UP aft departure only.
- When the control tower closed activate approach lights (MALSR) runway 30R; PAPI runway 12L and 30R; high-intensity runway lights runway 12L/30R; taxiway lights - the common traffic frequency. Runway 12R/30L closed when the control tower closed.
- Landing fee chrgd to all air taxi, commercial aircraft operations (except flight instrn), and transient aircraft weighing more than 10000 pounds.
- Runway 12R/30L not available for part 121/PART 380 operations with schedule passenger carrying operations more than 9 passenger seats and unscheduled passenger carrying operations more than 30 passenger seats.
- Centerline lights are only vsb on runway 30R.
- Cap squadron on airport.
- Right base operations for runway 30R establish wings level on final approach no lower than 300 feet above ground level.
- Noise sensitive areas south and east of airport recommended turbojet training hours wkday 8:00 am to 10:00 pm weekends 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm; no more than ten practice approaches per hour.
- Runway 30R 50:1 to dspld thld.
- Airport operations NA below 1200 rvr without smgcs. Airport operations not initiated below 600 rvr or authorized below 500 rvr.
Facts from the FAA's airport file effective October 1, 2026, written out in plain English; weather from the National Weather Service's aviation weather service; registered aircraft from the FAA register as of October 5, 2026; accidents from the NTSB's public database. Owners are shown only when they are an organisation; no person is named. Check the official sources before a flight: this page is for understanding an airport, not for planning one.