New Century AirCenter

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New Century AirCenter

IATA: JCI – ICAO: KIXD – FAA: IXD
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Johnson County Arpt Comm
Serves		Olathe, Kansas
Location		Gardner, Kansas
Elevation AMSL		1,087 ft / 331 m
Coordinates		38°49′51″N, 094°53′25″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
4/22	5,130	1,564	Asphalt
18/36	7,339	2,237	Asphalt
Statistics (2004)
Aircraft operations			53,593
Based aircraft			193
Source: Federal Aviation Administration^[1]

FAA diagram: New Century AirCenter

New Century AirCenter (IATA: JCI, ICAO: KIXD, FAA LID: IXD), formerly known as Naval Air Station Olathe, Flatley Field and Johnson County Industrial Airport, is a general aviation airport located four miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of Olathe, a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States.^[1]

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, New Century AirCenter is assigned IXD by the FAA and JCI by the IATA (which assigned IXD to Bamrauli Airport in Allahabad, India). The airport's ICAO identifier is KIXD. ^[2] ^[3]

The airport’s codes were derived from its name of Johnson County Industrial Airport. The county originally sought the “IND” designation for its “industrial” name but that identifier went to Indianapolis International Airport. The county then sought an “IJC” code based on the Johnson County name but that was rejected as too similar to the OJC code of the neighboring Johnson County Executive Airport (which was an auxiliary field for the Naval Station Olathe). The airport wound up with the closest available industrial code "IXD." The previous Naval Air Station code was NUU.

1 History
2 Facilities and aircraft
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The airport opened on October 1, 1942 and was referred locally as the Gardner, Kansas Navy Base because it was to be used for the Naval Air Station Olathe to be used for the Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and Naval Air Primary Training Command (NAPTC) which had been operating out of Fairfax Airport.^[4]^[5]

Future astronaut John Glenn was in the first class to be trained at the base and he was to make his first solo flight in a military plane from the base.^[6]

Glenn described the airport in its early days:

It was a sea of mud and we made our way from building to building on wooden 'duck boards'.

After World War II it was used for the Navy Marine Air Reserve as well as a training facility. War hero James H. Flatley commanded the base for about a year. The base was to be renamed Flately Field for him in 1962.

In 1959 it was used for the Nike-Hercules Missile program.

The based was decommissioned on October 29, 1969 and the station was closed in 1970.

The airport was acquired by Johnson County in 1973 and renamed Johnson County Industrial Airport to reflect a new mission of being an industrial park (including the Fred Allenbrand Criminal Justice Complex for Johnson County). On Sepember 28, 1994 the name was changed to New Century AirCenter so as not to minimize its aviation component.

The base was featured in a segment on the A&E Network entitled “Haunted America” in which it is claimed the base is the site of paranormal activity after a pilot crashed into an aircraft hangar next to the airport control tower in the 1950s. According to the report: security guards hear voices, whistles, footsteps on the floor and on overhead catwalks. Locks refuse to stay locked and doors open and close without wind or human intervention and an occasional apparition makes an appearance. ^[7]

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Aerial view of NAS Olathe in the 1940s

New Century Aircenter Airport covers an area of 2,600 acres (1,052 ha) which contains two runways:^[1]

Runway 4/22: 5,130 x 100 ft. (1,564 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 18/36: 7,339 x 150 ft. (2,237 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt

For 12-month period ending December 31, 2004, the airport had 53,593 aircraft operations, an average of 146 per day: 94% general aviation (50,419), 3% air taxi (1,511) and 3% military (1,663). There are 193 aircraft based at this airport: 66% single engine (128), 18% multi engine (34), 8% jet aircraft (15) and 8% military (16).^[1]