Pearson Field Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the international airport in Toronto, Canada, see Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Pearson Field

IATA: none – ICAO: KVUO – FAA: VUO
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of Vancouver
Serves		Vancouver, Washington
Elevation AMSL		25 ft / 8 m
Coordinates		45°37′14″N 122°39′23″W / 45.62056, -122.65639
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
8/26	3,275	998	Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations			52,200
Based aircraft			175
Source: Federal Aviation Administration^[1]

Pearson Field (ICAO: KVUO, FAA LID: VUO), also known as Pearson Field Airport, is a city-owned public-use airport located two miles (3 km) southwest of the central business district of Vancouver, a city in Clark County, Washington, United States.^[1]

Pearson Field is the oldest operating airfield in the United States. Located in the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, it is primarily used for general aviation. The airfield's lone runway is located along the final approach to nearby Portland International Airport. The airport lies next to the Lewis and Clark Highway and the Columbia River. It is the only airport in Washington that is a satellite airport.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Pearson Field is assigned VUO by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.^[2]

1 History
2 Facilities and aircraft
3 Transportation
4 Economic impact
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Lincoln Beachey flying the Gelatine Circa 1905

Pearson Field's history dates back to the early 1900s and is named for First Lieutenant Alexander Pearson of the United States Army and local resident.

1905: Lincoln Beachey pilots the dirigible Gelatine to Vancouver Barracks in the first aerial crossing of the Columbia River
1911: First airplane lands at Pearson Field.
1923-1941: Pearson Field is home to the US Army Air Service.
1923: Commander Lt. Oakley Kelly makes the first non-stop transcontinental flight.
1924: Pearson Field is a stopover point on the army's first round-the-world flight.
1925: Pearson Field is named after Lt. Alexander Pearson.
1937: Soviet aviator Valery Chkalov lands at the end of the first non-stop transpolar flight.
1994: City of Vancouver and National Park Service enter into agreement governing the future of Pearson Field.
2005: Pearson Field celebrates its 100-year anniversary.

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Pearson Field covers an area of 140 acres (57 ha) which contains one runway designated 8/26 with a 3,275 x 60 ft (998 x 18 m) asphalt pavement. For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2006, the airport had 52,200 aircraft operations, an average of 143 per day: 97% general aviation, 2% military and 1% air taxi. At that time there were 175 aircraft based at this airport: 97% single-engine and 3% multi-engine.^[1]

The airfield has a 150 T-hangars and tiedown facilities, with capacity for 175 light aircraft. Located at the airport are the Pearson Air Museum and the Jack Murdock Aviation Center. Located nearby are the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter and the Portland International Raceway.

[edit] Transportation

Lewis and Clark Highway (State Route 14)
Interstate 5

[edit] Economic impact

The state of Washington provides economic impact studies of airports within the state. Pearson Field contributes about 600 jobs to the area. Salaries drawn in relation to business at Pearson total about $11M USD. The total economic activity related to Pearson totals about $38M USD.^[3]