- Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport
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Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport 
FAA airport diagram IATA: MKC – ICAO: KMKC – FAA LID: MKC Summary Airport type Public Owner Kansas City Aviation Department Operator Kansas City Aviation Department Serves Kansas City, Missouri Location Kansas City, Missouri Elevation AMSL 759 ft / 231 m Coordinates 39°07′24″N 094°35′34″W / 39.12333°N 94.59278°W Website Runways Direction Length Surface ft m 1/19 7,002 2,134 Concrete 3/21 5,050 1,539 Asphalt Statistics (2006) Aircraft operations 83,219 Based aircraft 229 Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (IATA: MKC, ICAO: KMKC, FAA LID: MKC),[2] also known as Kansas City Downtown Airport, is a public airport located in Kansas City, Clay County, Missouri, United States. This airport is publicly owned by City of Kansas City.[1]
Contents
History
The city considered calling the airport "Peninsula Field" because of the sharp bend in the Missouri River around the airport
The airport from Quality Hill. The Broadway Bridge (Kansas City) is on the right. The Fairfax Assembly plant (the former Fairfax Airport) is the big building across the Missouri River on the left.This airport replaced Richards Field as Kansas City's main airport. It was dedicated as New Richards Field in 1927 by Charles Lindbergh. It was quickly renamed Kansas City Municipal Airport. Its most prominent tenant was TWA which was headquartered in Kansas City because of its central location. The airport was built in the Missouri River bottoms next to the rail tracks at the Hannibal Bridge. At the time air travel was considered to be handled in conjunction with rail traffic.
The airport had limited area for expansion (in fact, Fairfax Airport directly across the Missouri River in Kansas City, Kansas was actually bigger area wise before it closed). Airplanes had to avoid the 200-foot (60 m) Quality Hill and the Downtown Kansas City skyline at the south end of the main runway. In the early 1960s an FAA memo called it "the most dangerous major airport in the country" and urged that no further federal funds be spent on it. Kansas City replaced the airport in 1972 with Kansas City International Airport.
The April 1957 OAG shows 40 weekday Braniff departures, 39 TWA, 9 Continental, 4 United, 2 Delta, 2 Ozark and 2 Central.
The downtown airport has been renamed for Charles Wheeler who was mayor when Kansas City International opened. Richards Road which serves the airport is named for John Francisco Richards II, a Kansas City airman killed in World War I (and whose name was also applied to Richards Field and Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base).
Despite the concerns about the airport's being unsafe, Air Force One frequently uses it during Presidential visits.
Today, the airport is used chiefly for corporate and recreational aviation. Its location just north of the downtown business center provides excellent highway access.
It is home to the National Airline History Museum which focuses extensively on commercial airlines.
Facilities
Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport covers an area of 700 acres (283 ha) which contains two runways:[1]
- Runway 3/21: 5,050 x 150 ft (1,539 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
As of October 10, 2006, construction on runway 1-19 is complete and both runways are in use to their full length.
Taxiway H was at one time part of runway 17/35. This runway was closed after an FAA decision on the amount of required separation between terminal buildings and the runway.
The airport is built on the north side of the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River. Levees protected the airport relatively well during the Great Flood of 1951 and the Great Flood of 1993 although there were issues of standing water. The 1951 flood devastated the Fairfax airport and caused Kansas City to build what would become Kansas City International Airport away from the river to keep the TWA overhaul base in the area after it had been destroyed in the flood at Fairfax.
Kansas City, MO Aviation Department announced plans on October 17, 2006 to build a $20 million aircraft hangar complex at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport including: 122 T-hangars, 13 box hangars, a 40,000-square-foot (4,000 m2) terminal building with offices, a pilots' lounge, meeting rooms and a destination restaurant.
Incidents
- On August 20, 2011, pilot Bryan Jensen was killed when his plane crashed during the Kansas City Air Expo. [4]
- On March 31, 1931, Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne was killed on Transcontinental & Western Air Flight 599 from Kansas City to Los Angeles when the Fokker Trimotor broke up in a storm over Bazaar, Kansas. Rockne had been visiting his sons at Pembroke-Country Day School. The crash nearly put TWA out of business because it highlighted its aging fleet. The crash ushered in a golden era for TWA when it replaced the aging fleet with state-of-the-art aircraft.
- On January 16, 1942, Transcontinental & Western Air Flight 3 to Los Angeles impacted Mount Potosi in Nevada after a refueling stop in Las Vegas killing 22. Actress Carole Lombard was among the victims.
- On June 30, 1956, Trans World Airlines Flight 2, a Lockheed Super Constellation, was headed for Kansas City Downtown Airport. Over the Grand Canyon it collided with a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 killing all 128 people on both planes.
- On May 22, 1962 Continental Airlines Flight 11 en route from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Kansas City Downtown Airport exploded over Unionville, Missouri. All 45 on board were killed.
- On July 1, 1965, Continental Airlines Flight 12 from Los Angeles International Airport landed in heavy rain and was unable to stop due to hydroplaning. It impacted a blast mound and broke into 3 pieces but all 66 on board survived.
- On August 6, 1966, Braniff Airways Flight 250 left Kansas City Downtown Airport headed for Omaha and crashed near Falls City, Nebraska killing all 42 on board.
See also
References
- ^ a b c FAA Airport Master Record for MKC (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-03-15
- ^ Great Circle Mapper: MKC / KMKC - Kansas City, Missouri (Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport)
- ^ Downtown airport boasts a new runway safety system, Kansas City.com, November 6, 2009
- ^ "Pilot Dies In KC Air Show". 2011-08-20. http://www.kmbc.com/news/28926313/detail.html. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
External links
- Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (official site)
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 20 October 2011
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KMKC
- ASN accident history for MKC
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures for KMKC
Categories:- Transportation in Kansas City, Missouri
- Airports in Missouri
- Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Missouri
- Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Missouri
- Buildings and structures in Clay County, Missouri
- Airports established in 1927
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