Airport comments by @animebirder

Comments 1 to 50 of 134

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re: DO NOT LAND HERE

It's generally never a good idea to land on any private airstrip without advance notice or permission except in cases of dire emergency. All headings and information here should be considered to be for informational purposes only, and contact information for owners of private airstrips may not even be publicly available depending on jurisdiction.

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Mystery solved

Posted address on FAA and AirNav is incorrect, Western Surgery Center is adjacent to Cache Valley Hospital in North Logan.

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re: Name of the airport.

Iwo Jima originates from an English language misreading of the Japanese η‘«ι»„ε³Ά Iōtō ("Sulfur Island") as "iwo shima" prior to World War II. This name has been immortalized in name of the battle fought here in 1945, but the proper and official name of the island is indeed Iōtō (or in older transliterations "Iwo To" or "Iwautau") with "Iojima" being a persistent but incorrect reading that is protested by the descendants of the people who lived here before evacuation during the war (and the subsequent and continuing use of the island as an air base).

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Mystery solved

The FAA and AirNav coordinates placed this incorrectly well to the north, but a chance spot of N7802K (private Cessna 180J Skywagon) observed taking off from there on 17 Feb 2023 finally solved this mystery

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Duplicate

Turns out this is the actual location of TA55 Del Valle, whose FAA coordinates were way too far north.

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Infamy

Once used for drug smuggling by the so-called "Columbus Air Force".

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Emergency use airfield.

While CGAS Casco Cove closed in 2010, runway 2/20 remains available for emergency use as of 2023 per AirNAV.

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Former N/S farm airstrip ...

Now long since overshadowed by the massive Michael Heizer art installation, "City", which is many times larger than this airstrip ever was.

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re: (no subject)

Reply to @JitendraPS: Wrong Alexandria, that's Borg El Arab International Airport serving Alexandria, Egypt, and this is Alexandria Airport which is a small rural airport serving Alexandria, Indiana, USA. Please be aware there are many localities in the world with duplicated names.

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Fatal accident 16 Mar 2023

A Shark.Aero Shark stalled and crashed here after a missed approach / aborted landing, killing two. Reference: ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 309293

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Not a typo

While autocorrect and my own instincts tell me this should be "Remembrance", this is indeed the spelling used in AirNav, AOPA, and all other sources.

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Provisional name for unnamed airstrip

N7802K (private Cessna 180J Skywagon) was observed taking off from this previously unlisted and unnamed airstrip on 17 Feb 2023.

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Confirmed closed 2000

https://airport1111.blog.ss-blog.jp/moriyaeast-airfield

Per this excellent Japanese airfield blog, Moriya (MFOC) Airfield was closed in 2020 due to damage from the previous year's Typhoon No 19.

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Article from Asahi (2019)

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASM5Q6QSMM5QUJHB00W.html

to paraphrase:

Moriya (Ultralight) Airstrip was evidently founded in 1985 on the floodplain of the Tone River, on land leased from private owners. Primary users were the Moriya Flying Users Club (about 40 general aviation enthusiasts), as well as helicopter operators Asahi Koyo and Japan Flight Safety for training purposes. However, the land was purchased from the previous owners by the Tone River Office (Kuki, Saitama) for use as a flood easement - Inatoi Reservoir (which is now visible adjacent to the remaining N-S runway).

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Former YFZ Ranch (FLDS)

This dirt airstrip serves ETG Ranch (aka Eldorado Training Grounds), a military and law enforcement training facility on the former YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch owned and operated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) polygamist sect. This is newer aviation facility that did not exist during the YFZ era.

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Yeti Airlines Flight 691

Just 15 days into the operation of the new airport, Yeti Airlines Flight 691 inbound from Kathmandu, operating an ATR 72, went down along the Seti River between here and the old airport with all hands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti_Airlines_Flight_691

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re: Airport?!

The clearing just north of that field looks like a more deliberate runway but appears fiercely overgrown. How odd.

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A rare 10000+ ft runway in Central Africa

This airport was built to serve the hometown of then-Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko, who had a palace here and would charter an Air France Concorde so his family could go shopping in Paris. Yes, you read that correctly.

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Converted to heliport.

Recent satellite imagery has the main runway 10/28 covered in prefab housing, as indicated in the current AirNav entry (closed indefinitely). The former apron has a heliport indicator and appears to remain in use.

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Split between two Governorates

Part of this facility is in Suez Governorate, but most of it lies in Ismailia Governorate.

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Re: Placename Translation

Putting these name convention notes here in lieu of a wiki.

Best practices when listing placenames and names of airports that are based on location are to leave those place names listed in the original language (for example, Puerto Vallarta and not "Port Vallarta", Ras Sedr and not "Cape Sedr", Kuala Lumpur and certainly not "Muddy Confluence").

Military ranks and titles used in the names of airports should be translated where feasible (ie. Colonel rather than Coronel, Marshal and not Marechal etc, but preserve culturally distinctive titles such as Chhatrapati or Shahid). Likewise, the words for airport, heliport, etc. should always be translated and written out (ie. "matar, kuukou, aerodromio, flyplats" etc should be translated); likewise, words like hospital, factory, etc should be translated unless the word is a brand name and familiar in English.

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Visible in newer maps

Not visible in sat maps prior to 2022, newer sat maps show a three-slot heliport in this location adjacent to a new factory for Elsewedy Electric.

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re: Used by web infrastructure company CloudFlare

Reply to @anonym: Updated the location as I was able to properly pinpoint this facility on sat maps.

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SEQU remains in use ...

But only as a heliport for the Ecuadorian military and local fire and police departments.

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Unsanctioned airfield

John Toole Jr., the owner of Toole's Training Center, used this horse race track as an airfield for a J5 Cub in 2015, which prompted the Davie city council to ban private airfields in the city. The pilot attempted a campaign for city council as a result. Toole ultimately lost his life in a 2020 crash near Orange Springs while trying to land an Aero Commander 100 Darter Commander on an unlit grass strip (FD02 Patch o Blue) at night.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020_10_14_archive.html

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Report from personal visit

I was able to access this field via ground transportation during a previous visit to Bastrop in 2017-2019; it's a pretty rudimentary and obviously private grass strip, little more than a mowed patch of grass beaten down by plane tires. But it's definitely there.

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Onomichi Floating Port vs Onomichi Seaplane Base

The actual name of this facility transliterates directly from katakana as "Onomichi Floating Port", but this is a "Japanese English" turn of phrase that does not work well for native English speakers (since "port" by itself is used for nautical and not aeronautical purposes), so I've taken the liberty of translating this to Onomichi Seaplane Base per our usual listing convention elsewhere. The literal transliteration is included in keywords.

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Disused WW2 Facility

Built in 1940 as a training field, this was adjacent to the Japanese-American internment camp (whose remains are still visible on the map to the southwest across US-395). The airfield remained open until 1956, and in intermittent use until at least 1975.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_Inyo.htm#manzanar

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Reopened as a UAS strip 2022

In newer imagery, this is now marked as an active UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) airstrip.

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Remains open

There is literally a C208 on FlightAware bound here from Miami as I type this.

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Closed 2022

This airport closed very recently. Wonder if they've gotten the skydiving King Air out of there since I last visited in February.

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re: Sad that this is now slated to be closed soon!

Reply to @shumphries: Seems like a tough time for Texas country airports. I saw this happen to Luling Carter Field last year.

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Don't land here yourself, multiple times

Ignore the spammer. This is very much a private airport, and this is a gentle reminder that inclusion on this website does not imply that any facility is open to public access or safe for landing. Please check with local authorities or the property owner (if applicable) before attempting to land anywhere that is not a known public airport.

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re: Highway Airstrips in Cuba

Please note that there is no separate heading for military-use airports in OurAirports, and that the inclusion of any aviation facility on this site does not imply permission to land there, given the thousands of private-use airstrips and heliports in the United States alone.

Moreover, many airports throughout the world are dual-use military-civilian, including my closest major airport (Austin Bergstrom International) which hosts a National Guard unit. So having a separate "military" category would make this very difficult as the same facility cannot be listed multiple times with the same ICAO code under different categories.

Airports on OuAirports are categorized by size and frequency of use, so "Small Airport" would be the most salient category for highway airstrips due to their infrequency of employment.

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re: closed?

Reply to @feitidede: Still listed as Active on AirNav as of 10/20/2022, owner: State of Nevada Department of Energy.

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Confirmed per YouTube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mizs218XOQ

Private airstrip X marking visible at south end of grass runway in this 2018 YouTube video of N503AM taking off from here.

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2022 Update

Unlike its twin to the east-southeast, this ultralight airport continues to thrive for now.

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Update 2022

N/S runway still appears intact, but hangar structures appear to have been demolished.

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Found it!

Evidently disused, but it exists.

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LSA Fly-Ins

Attended the small light sport aircraft fly-in here in March 2022, their website lists this as twice a year, so keep your eyes peeled!

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re: This may be defunct

Reply to @AdventureAviator: It's pretty long since defunct and has been marked as closed.

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re: (no subject)

Reply to @espinielli: Clearly had to be towed or trucked there somehow, considering the lack of runway (or VTOL capability). Pretty wild.

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re: penguins...

Reply to @feitidede: Please refrain from spam comments, there are no penguins this far inland. Thank you.

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1970 is more than 22 years before 2018.

Looks like this airport did exist ... 40 to 50 years ago.

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Dual-use facility

JMSDF Chichijima Airfield has both a seaplane ramp (ShinMaywa US-2 patrol flying boats) and a heliport.

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Shares runways with EBBR

But has a different ICAO, so maintaining the separate heading is necessary.

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Inspiration for the musical Come from Away

A former transatlantic crossroads before the jet era, Gander was one of the airports that housed stranded travelers when American airspace was closed due to the events of September 11, 2001; Gander International received 7000 passengers from thirty-eight planes. The incredible hospitality of the Newfoundlanders inspired the musical Come from Away, which ran on Broadway from 2017 to 2022, and continues to spark interest from innumerable "Come-from-Aways" in the people and culture of the island.

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Claimed as the highest airstrip in the world

At 16200 feet, this is definitely about as high-altitude as permanent facilities get. More information on the linked Wiki page, of course.

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Problem Report resolved

@david RPLP Legazpi Domestic is now a closed airport, and the IATA code of LGP has been properly transferred to RPLK Bicol International.

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OurAirports doesn't delete closed airports

Hi @mforte! My understanding is that closed airports remain on the database for historical records as well as to keep people informed for aviation safety reasons -- so pilots do not attempt to land there, but are aware the facility either exists or previously existed. There is also the chance that if a closed airport still exists, it may still be used in case of emergency (ie Air Canada Flight 143, 23/07/1983).

This also allows passengers and pilots to log historical visits that occurred in the past (ie my own visit to Hong Kong Kai Tak in 1980).

Cheers!