Yeager Airport

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Yeager Airport

IATA: CRW – ICAO: KCRW – FAA: CRW
Summary
Operator		Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority
Serves		Charleston, West Virginia
Elevation AMSL		981 ft / 299 m
Coordinates		38°22′23″N 81°35′35″W / 38.37306, -81.59306
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
5/23	6,302	1,921	Asphalt
15/33	4,750	1,448	Asphalt

Yeager Airport (IATA: CRW, ICAO: KCRW, FAA LID: CRW) is a public airport located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district (CBD) of Charleston, a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, USA. The airport covers 767 acres (3.1 km²) and has two runways. It is also home to the nine C-130s from the U.S. Air Force's 130th Airlift Wing.

The airport sits on a hilltop over 300 feet (about 100 m) above the valleys of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers, and the hill drops off sharply on all sides. Due to the airfield's unique location, passengers flying into Yeager enjoy a scenic approach of either downtown Charleston, or the rolling hills to the north and east of the field.

1 Technical Information
2 History
3 Airlines and destinations
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Technical Information

Yeager's main runway, Runway 5-23, currently sits on a heading of 235º and is 6,302 feet in length. An Engineered Materials Arresting System was recently built at the end of Runway 5 to prevent aircraft from being able to go over the hillside, in the unlikely event that one wouldn't be able to stop. Yeager's secondary runway, 15-33, currently sits at a heading of 335º and is 4,750 feet in length. 15-33 is mostly used by general aviation aircraft due to its length although the smaller regional jets and turboprops have used it before when winds are heavy out of the north.

[edit] History

During World War II, Charleston's airport at that time, Wertz Field, closed when the airport's approaches were blocked once the federal government built a synthetic rubber plant next to the airport; this left the city without an airport. However, there were plans before the war to build a new Charleston airport, as Wertz Field was already becoming commercially obsolete.

The city started construction of its new airport in 1944; the facility opened in 1947 as Kanawha Airport. The airport received its current name in 1985, honoring then-Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, a native of nearby Lincoln County who piloted the world's first supersonic flight in the Bell X-1.

The airport's construction was one of the most remarkable engineering accomplishments of the 1940s. The original topography of the area where Yeager Airport now stands consisted of three large and four small hilltops on a ridge overlooking the Elk River. In order to create enough flat land for an airport, it was necessary to shear off the tops of all seven hills, and use the soil to fill in the valleys in between. At that time, the construction of Kanawha Airport was reportedly the second-largest earth-moving project in history, behind the construction of the Panama Canal.

On February 27, 2008, Yeager's Governing Board voted to close the secondary runway, 15-33, to allow for the construction of two new hangars and additional ramp space for four additional C-130s to be based at the Air National Guard facility.^[1] It will allow the airport to triple the general aviation area's hangar space and create room for off-runway businesses, and provide parking for up to ten additional commercial airliners.

The closure of the ramp is part of the airport's master plan, which is currently in the draft stages.^[1] The plan calls for the construction of a new $17 million aircraft maintenance hangar, which is scheduled to begin construction in the first-half of 2008. The master plan also states that a new boarding concourse at the passenger terminal will be constructed, along with a second hangar to house C-130 fuel cell maintenance, which will begin in 2009.

It is projected that by 2028, 470,000 will be boarding via commercial aircraft.^[1]