Orange Municipal Airport

I was introduced to Orange Airport years ago on a beautifully sunny, smooth and bumpless Sunday morning. I was noodling along, master of my airy domain, when a bunch of parachutes appeared out of nowhere, way too close, and at my altitude. They um…startled me. They were very colorful, which was nice, and they weren’t there for very long, which was even better. But while they were there I had plenty of time to contemplate my life and wish they would just go away.

I found out later that Orange has an active jump school. Who knew! I certainly didn’t. But now I do, and so do you. CTAF is 122.8 so you can avoid the same colorful surprise.

Except for the jump school, which lives at the approach end of runway 01 on the north side of the airport, Orange is a sleepy little place. It’s rural enough that the local Grange has an aero club, a mash-up that I thought was just charming.

That weird sky on the day I visited meant winds 18g22 on the way out and both hands on the yoke. Not my favorite flying.

I saw this curiosity sitting on the ramp at ORE. It is a 1955 Avions Max Holste MH 1521 Broussard. It has a 450-horse engine, so I imagine it can scoot, and it’s set up as a medivac plane with a dummy on a litter inside. I love running into these things!

The terminal is small but serviceable, with a well-kept space inside to do your flight planning. Self-serve fuel is available

The goal of my trip to Orange was to visit the White Cloud Restaurant, located right across the street from the terminal.

The White Cloud is very popular in the community, and it was busy on the day I was there. Local police personnel were coming by when they broke from dog-training at the airport, and there were lots of local families coming in with kids. The parking lot was packed.

The menu at White Cloud features American comfort food prepared just the way you like it. Eggs, pancakes, burgers, and sandwiches are all there for you to try, prepared simply or with a twist like the pumpkin pancakes that were available on the October day I was there. They had homemade chili when I was there and pulled pork dishes too. And they have real maple syrup for your pancakes or waffles, which to me is a sign of high-class airport dining. So give it a try and wave at the Holste Brousssard out on the ramp. Just keep an eye out for suicidal parachute jumpers!