Texel International Airport

is a small airport on the island of Texel in the north of the Netherlands. It has a customs service to handle international flights making it an international airport, though no scheduled international flights take place from the airport as the name might suggest. Because of this, it has no IATA code assigned to it.

The airfield is mainly used by small piston engine aircraft, but turboprops such as the Fokker 50 and small jets such as the Cessna Citation can also land at Texel. A lit platform for helicopters is also available. The biggest aircraft ever at Texel Airport was the Fokker 100, the biggest helicopter was a Mil Mi-26.

One of the main activities on Texel Airport is skydiving. "Paracentrum Texel" gives courses and has several airplanes to get the skydivers airborne.

The island itself is a popular tourist destination especially during summer and so a lot of private pilots come to the island for recreation. An airshow was held at Texel in 2007 the next airshow is planned for the summer of 2010. An annual taildragger and oldtimer fly-in is also organised by the airport since 2004. The 4th Texel Taildragger & Old Timer Fly-in is scheduled from 23 to 25 May 2007. There is also a small museum showing the history of aviation on the island.

DC-3 disaster

A memorial on the airport reminds of the disaster with a Douglas DC-3 from the Dutch Dakota Association on 25 september 1996. It was on its way from Texel to de Kooy airport at Den Helder when one of the engines failed and the crew was unable to feather the propellor. The aircraft crashed in shallow water near the town Den Oever. None of the 32 people onboard survived the crash.

ee also

*List of airports in the Netherlands

External links

* [http://www.texelairport.nl/ Texel airport] (official website)
* [http://www.lomt.nl/ Aviation museum Texel]
* [http://www.paracentrumtexel.nl/ Paracentrum Texel]
* [http://www.airporthoteltexel.com/ Airport Hotel Texel]