Roswell International Air Center

For the military use of this facility prior to 1967, see Walker Air Force Base.
Roswell International Air Center
IATA: ROW – ICAO: KROW – FAA LID: ROW
Summary
Airport type Public company
Owner City of Roswell
Serves Roswell, New Mexico
Elevation AMSL 3,671 ft / 1,118.9 m
Coordinates 33°18′5.6″N 104°31′50″W / 33.301556°N 104.53056°WCoordinates: 33°18′5.6″N 104°31′50″W / 33.301556°N 104.53056°W
Website Official Website
Map
ROW

Location in New Mexico

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
3/21 13,001 3,963 Asphalt/Concrete
17/35 9,999 3,048 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 43,990
Based aircraft 46

Roswell International Air Center (RIAC) (IATA: ROW, ICAO: KROW, FAA LID: ROW) (Roswell Industrial Air Center) is an airport seven miles (11 km) south of Roswell, in Chaves County, New Mexico.[1]

History

The airport was Roswell Army International Airfield during World War II, and Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War. When it closed 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 June 30, 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 close. 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 July 4, 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 A300-600R wide body jetliners.[2]

On April 2, 2011, a Gulfstream G650 crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport during a test flight that was being conducted by the manufacturer of this large business jet, killing all four aboard.[3]

The airport was used by Felix Baumgartner to launch his record-breaking freefall jump from the stratosphere on October 14, 2012.[4]

Facilities

The airport covers 5,029 acres (2,035 ha) and has two paved runways:[1]

In 2013 the airport had 53,030 aircraft operations, average 145 per day: 17% general aviation, 71% military, 11% air taxi and <1% airline. 34 aircraft were then based at this airport: 76% single-engine, 15% multi-engine, and 8% jet.[1]

Below are annual total aircraft operations 2009–2013 from the FAA's Air Traffic Activity System. Average yearly increase was 5.11% over the last 5 years.[5]

Aircraft Operations: ROW 2009–2013[5]
Calendar Year Aircraft Operations %
2009 48,726
2010 51,958 6.63%
2011 35,673 −31.34%
2012 34,671 −2.81%
2013 53,075 53.08%

Airline and destinations

Airlines Destinations
American Eagle Dallas/Fort Worth

Roswell's first commercial airport was on the northwest corner of the city and was first served about 1940 by Continental Airlines with DC-3 flights to El Paso, Albuquerque (through to Denver), and Midland/Odessa (through to San Antonio). Pioneer Airlines began service in 1948 with DC-3 flights to Clovis, Lubbock, and onto Dallas. In 1955 Pioneer merged into Continental and in 1963 Continental transferred all Roswell service over to Trans-Texas Airways. TTA quickly upgraded the Roswell service with 50-seat Convair 600's and in 1968 when the city closed their municipal airport and transfered airline operations to the former Walker AFB, the airline again upgraded to Douglas DC-9-10 and DC-9-30 jets to Albuquerque, (through to Los Angeles) and to Midland/Odessa (through to Dallas and Houston). TTA was renamed Texas International Airlines which continued at Roswell with DC-9s and Convair 600s until October 1, 1979 when the carrier transfered all Roswell service to Air Midwest.[6] Air Midwest served Roswell with 17-seat Swearingen Metroliners to Albuquerque, Lubbock, and Midland/Odessa but passengers had to now change planes to larger airlines at these cities to get to any larger hub cities beyond. Mesa Airlines began serving Roswell in 1984 with much the same routes and starved out Air Midwest by early 1986. Mesa added nonstop flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) in 1987 and continued serving Roswell until the arrival of American Eagle in late 2007. Mesa was operating 19-seat Beech 1900 aircraft with no major airline code-share and was not able to compete with American Eagle's 50-seat regional jets. Roswell was also briefly served in 1987 by Trans Colorado Airlines operating as Continental Express with flights to Albuquerque and El Paso utilizing metroliner aircraft. Lone Star Airlines served Roswell from 1995 through 1997 with flights to DFW and El Paso on metroliners. And Big Sky Airlines came to Roswell in 2000/2001 with flights to DFW and Denver, also with metroliners. American Eagle also operated a nonstop flight to Los Angeles in 2009/2010 and the city has been negotiating with American Eagle to start a flight to Phoenix.

American Eagle Embraer ERJ-145s now fly nonstop to Dallas/Ft. Worth for American Airlines. In 2008 the carrier occasionally operated 70-seat CRJ-700s.

Other uses

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 including AerSale have airliners stored onsite.

RIAC is the home of the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center.

In 2002 a series of charter flights on Trans World Airlines Boeing 767-300 aircraft were operated through ROW to transport trainees for Federal Air Marshalls. Training was done at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center at nearby Artesia, New Mexico.

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 buildings.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 FAA Airport Master Record for ROW (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  2. ↑ http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/American%20Airlines-stored-a300.htm
  3. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Gulfstream G650 N652GD Roswell International Air Center Airport, NM (ROW)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
  4. ↑ Watch Felix Baumgartner's Record-Setting Jump From 120,000 Feet Live Popular Science, 2012-10-14.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Air Traffic Activity System". Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  6. ↑ February 1, 1976 Official Airline Guide, North American edition

External links