| Roswell International Air Center | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: ROW – ICAO: KROW – FAA LID: ROW | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | City of Roswell | ||
| Serves | Roswell, New Mexico | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 3,671 ft / 1,118.9 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Website | |||
| Map | |||
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| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 3/21 | 13,001 | 3,963 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| 17/35 | 9,999 | 3,048 | Asphalt |
| 12/30 | 7,425 | 2,263 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| Statistics (2007) | |||
| Aircraft operations | 43,990 | ||
| Based aircraft | 46 | ||
| Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] | |||
Roswell International Air Center (RIAC) (IATA: ROW, ICAO: KROW, FAA LID: ROW), also known as Roswell Industrial Air Center, is a city-owned public-use airport located seven miles (11 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, a city in Chaves County, New Mexico, United States.[1]
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From 1941 to 1967, the facility was known as Roswell Army Airfield during World War II, and Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War. At the time of its closure, it was the largest base of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Roswell International Air Center was developed after the closure of Walker Air Force Base on 30 June 1967.
Walker AFB was named after General Kenneth Newton Walker, a native of Los Cerrillos, New Mexico. He was killed during a bombing mission over Rabaul, New Britain, Papua, New Guinea. on January 5, 1943. Though intercepted by enemy fighters, his group scored direct hits on nine Japanese ships. General Walker was last seen leaving the target area with one engine on fire and several fighters on his tail. For his actions, General Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943.
The base was renamed in his honor on January 13, 1948. Walker Hall, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, home of the College of Aerospace Doctrine Research and Education, is also named after the general.
In 1966, the Air Force announced that Walker AFB would be closed. This was during a round of base closings and consolidations as the Defense Department struggled to pay the expenses of the Vietnam War within the budgetary limits set by Congress.
It is also known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that supposedly happened on 4 July 1947. It is alleged that a "flying disk" crashed during a severe thunderstorm near RIAC at Corona, New Mexico.
The site was used for several years to launch stratospheric balloons for Air Force projects.
The site is the storage facility for many of American Airlines' retired Airbus A-300 aircraft.[2]
On 2 April 2011, a Gulfstream G650 crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport, during a test flight, killing all four aboard.[3]
Roswell International Air Center Airport covers an area of 5,029 acres (2,035 ha), with three paved runways:[1]
For the 12-month period ending October 31, 2007, the airport had 43,990 aircraft operations, an average of 120 per day: 51% general aviation, 31% military, 18% air taxi and <1% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 46 aircraft based at this airport: 76% single-engine, 17% multi-engine, 4% jet and 2% helicopter.[1]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| American Eagle | Dallas/Fort Worth |
| New Mexico Airlines | Albuquerque, Clovis |
The RIAC is home to a plastic manufacturer; Novabus Inc. has a bus factory there; a candy manufacturer and the Roswell Municipal Airport. Eastern New Mexico University has a campus there, and aircraft repair and refurbishing companies have airliners stored onsite.
RIAC is the home of the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center.
The Boeing Company uses RIAC for braking performance testing of its aircraft, most recent was the testing of the BF Goodrich carbon brakes on the 737-900ER model. Also testing on brakes was performed on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
A New Mexico National Guard unit uses some of the buildings of the facility.
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