San Manuel Airstrip

The primary reason for closure was a natural disaster. The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo blanketed the region, including the airstrip, with heavy volcanic ash and subsequent lahar (mudflows). This made the runway non-operational and dangerous. The immense cost of rehabilitation, combined with the strategic decision for the U.S. Air Force to abandon the heavily damaged Clark Air Base, led to the permanent closure of this auxiliary airfield.

The site has been completely repurposed and is no longer recognizable as an active airfield. A significant portion of the former runway and surrounding land is now occupied by the Tarlac Solar Power Project, a large-scale solar farm developed by PetroSolar Corporation, which began operations around 2016. While faint outlines of the old runway are still visible via satellite imagery in areas not covered by solar panels, the land has been redeveloped for renewable energy generation as part of the Central Technopark.

The airstrip was historically known as O'Donnell Airfield, a military airfield that served as an auxiliary facility for the much larger Clark Air Base. It was used by both the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Philippine Air Force (PAF). Its operations included serving as an emergency landing strip, a dispersal field to move aircraft away from the main base in case of an attack, and a site for various military training exercises. Its location is near Camp O'Donnell, the infamous final destination of the Bataan Death March in World War II, though the airfield itself was a post-war development. It was an integral part of the U.S. military's extensive Cold War infrastructure in the Philippines.

There are zero prospects for reopening the site as an airport. The construction of the Tarlac Solar Power Project directly on the former runway infrastructure makes its conversion back to an aviation facility physically impossible and economically infeasible. The land has been permanently redeveloped for industrial use.