- Sioux Gateway Airport
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Sioux Gateway Airport
Colonel Bud Day Field
2006 USGS photo IATA: SUX – ICAO: KSUX – FAA LID: SUX Summary Airport type Public Owner Sioux Gateway Airport Authority Location Sioux City, Iowa Elevation AMSL 1,098 ft / 335 m Coordinates 42°24′09″N 096°23′04″W / 42.4025°N 96.38444°W Runways Direction Length Surface ft m 13/31 9,002 2,744 Concrete 17/35 6,600 2,012 Asphalt Statistics (2006) Aircraft operations 30,726 Based aircraft 67 Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] 
Sioux Gateway AirportLocation of Sioux Gateway Airport, Iowa"SUX" redirects here. For other uses, see Sux (disambiguation).- For the United States Air Force use of the airport, see Sioux City Air National Guard Base
Sioux Gateway Airport (IATA: SUX, ICAO: KSUX, FAA LID: SUX), also known as Colonel Bud Day Field, is a joint civil-military public airport located 6 miles (10 km) south of Sioux City and just west of Sergeant Bluff, in Woodbury County, Iowa, United States.[1]
On 25 May 2002, the airport was named "Colonel Bud Day Field" in honor of United States Air Force Colonel George Everette "Bud" Day, a Sioux City, Iowa native and is the only person ever awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Air Force Cross. In addition to commercial and general aviation service, the airport is home to the 185th Air Refueling Wing (185 ARW), an Air Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit of the Iowa Air National Guard, flying the KC-135 Stratotanker.
Contents
Overview
The airport is owned and operated by the City of Sioux City and governed by a seven member Airport Board of Trustees. Airport Board members are appointed by the City Council and serve four-year terms.
Airport Growth
In June 2007, after months of waiting, the city and the airport found out that Frontier Airlines would start service to and from Denver. Since July 2007 the airport has added an additional three arrivals and departures. In the first few months of 2008 Frontier was expected to begin another arrival and departure time, adding to total of three arrivals/departures by Frontier and five arrivals/departures by Northwest Airlines daily. Since adding a second airline, passenger numbers at the airport have increased by as low as 120 percent and as high as 210 percent in February 2008. However, Frontier ended all service from the airport on May 12, 2008 leaving Northwest Airlines (Who has since merged with Delta Air Lines) as the sole carrier at the airport.
The Board of Trustees has been pursuing other airlines as well as finalizing plans to remodel the airport.SUX Controversy
The airport designator "SUX" has been contentious. Sioux City Mayor Craig Berenstein in 2002 described SUX as an "embarrassment" to the city.[2] After petitioning the FAA for a changed airport identifier in 1998 and 2002, authorities found the alternatives offered - GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY - to be unappealing, and elected to stay with SUX.[2] In October 2007, airport board member Dave Bernstein proposed embracing the identifier, saying "Let's make the best of it. I think we have the opportunity to turn it into a positive." and noting "I've got buddies that I went to college with in different cities that can't even remember their own birthdays, but they all know the Sioux City designator — SUX."[2] The airport now sells merchandise with the words "Fly SUX".[3][4]
Facilities and aircraft
Sioux Gateway Airport covers an area of 2,460 acres (1,000 ha) which contains two runways: 13/31 with a concrete surface measuring 9,002 x 150 ft (2,744 x 46 m) and 17/35 with an asphalt surface measuring 6,600 x 150 ft (2,012 x 46 m).[1]
For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2006, the airport had 30,726 aircraft operations, an average of 84 per day: 65% general aviation, 19% military and 16% scheduled commercial. There are 67 aircraft based at this airport: 66% single engine, 19% jet aircraft, 13% military and 1% helicopters.[1]
Airlines and destinations
Airlines Destinations Delta Connection operated by Pinnacle Airlines Minneapolis/St. Paul History
Further information: History of Sioux City, IowaThe construction of Sioux City Army Air Base began in March 1942, about three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Opened on 5 July 1942, it became a major training center during World War II[5] for crew members of B-24 Liberators and B-17 Flying Fortresses. With the end of World War II, the former training base switched to becoming a processing center to discharge personnel out of the service and back into civilian life.
With its mission completed, Sioux City Army Air Base closed in December 1945.[6] However, the facility would not remain closed for long, as in September 1946 the airfield was opened by the Air Force Reserve. Sioux City Air Base was one of the first Air Force Reserve bases established after the war, and in December 1946 the 185th Iowa Air National Guard unit was established at Sioux City. Assigned to the new Air Defense Command (ADC) upon reactivation, the 140th Army Air Force base unit was activated as its host unit.[7] The mission of the 140th AFBU was to offer flight and ground training to all commissioned and enlisted members of the Air Force Reserve residing in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.[8]
However, by the mid-1960s ADC was reducing its forces, and on 1 April 1966 the 31st AD was reassigned and the airport was turned over to the Air Force Reserve and Iowa Air National Guard for limited military use.
Accidents and incidents
- July 19, 1989, a United Airlines DC-10, on a flight from Denver to Philadelphia via Chicago, crashed at Sioux Gateway Airport while attempting an emergency landing. 111 passengers and 1 crew member were killed, while 174 passengers and 10 crew members survived. The accident was one of the most famous aviation disasters in American history, due to the skill of the crew in saving most of the occupants, and because the crash and rescue operation were captured on videotape by a news crew.
- December 20 1983, Ozark Airlines flight 650 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31. The aircraft left Sioux City and struck a snow plow while landing on runway 03 at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The aircraft struck the snow plow with its right wing, immediately killing the snow plow operator and causing the plane to swerve off the runway. The probable cause was inadequate control tower service. All airplane passengers and crew survived.
-December 27 1968. Ozark Airlines flight 982 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15. Crashed while taking off from runway 35 at Sioux Gateway Airport en route to Chicago O' Hare. The plane was inadequately deiced, causing it to have no control after takeoff. The plane rolled violently 90 degrees to the right causing the wing to strike the ground. The plane came to rest 1181 feet past the runway end. No fatalities.
-January 31 1944. United States Army Air Force Douglas C-39 en route to Saint Joseph Missouri caught fire shortly after takeoff and crashed and burned. All 3 of the crew members died.
-March 2 1951. Mid-Continent Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashed 500 feet short of runway 17 while attempting to land in a snowstorm. The probable cause of the crash was a stall at low altitude while turning to line up on the runway. 16 of the plane's 25 occupants were killed in the crash.
See also
References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.- ^ a b c d FAA Airport Master Record for SUX (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-07-05
- ^ a b c "Sioux City Stops Fighting It, Embraces Identifier 'SUX'". Associated Press. 2007-10-21. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303823,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
- ^ Jones, Jay (August 10, 2008). "Sioux City knows it's 'S-U-X,' so it's decided to enjoy it". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/08/TRP11224KM.DTL.
- ^ "Airport embraces SUX identification code". UPI. July 3, 2008. http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/07/03/Airport_embraces_SUX_identification_code/UPI-24541215118800/.
- ^ USAFHRA Document 00178204
- ^ USAFHRA Document 00178240
- ^ USAFHRA Document 00180051
- ^ USAFHRA Document 00180054
External links
- Sioux Gateway Airport (official site)
- JetSun Aviation Centre (fixed base operator)
- Sioux Gateway Airport (GlobalSecurity.org)
- 185th Refueling Wing (GlobalSecurity.org)
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KSUX
- ASN accident history for SUX
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KSUX
- FAA current SUX delay information
Categories:- Airports in Iowa
- Airports established in 1942
- Sioux City, Iowa
- Facilities of the United States Air National Guard
- Buildings and structures in Woodbury County, Iowa
- Transportation in Woodbury County, Iowa
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