Clinton County Airport: edit
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Clinton County Airport (IATA: PLB, ICAO: KPLB, FAA LID: PLB) is a former county-owned public-use airport in Clinton County, New York, United States. It is located 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) west of the central business district of the city of Plattsburgh. It served Plattsburgh and the western side of Lake Champlain.
Clinton County transitioned to using the nearby Plattsburgh International Airport (44°39′03″N 073°28′05″W) as the primary airport for the region on June 18, 2007, and as of 2012 the Clinton County Airport's status was listed as "Closed Permanently" by the FAA.[1]
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 1,712 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2004 and 1,747 enplanements in 2005. According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011, Clinton County was categorized as a general aviation airport because the commercial service category required at least 2,500 passenger boardings per year.
In 1972, a FB-111A Aardvark landed at the airport after the pilot mistook the runway for the airport as being the nearby Plattsburgh Air Force Base.
Facilities and aircraft[edit] edit
Clinton County Airport covers an area of 990 acres (400 ha) at an elevation of 371 ft (113 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways; the primary instrument runway is runway 1-19. An instrument landing system is installed on the north-facing runway 1. Runway 1 is also equipped with a medium intensity approach lighting system. A VOR is located on the field and provides a non-precision instrument approach to runway 19. This VOR was decommissioned on September 15, 2016. [2] Both runway 1-19 and runway 14-32 are 5,000 ft (1,500 m) in length and 100 ft (30 m) wide. The landing threshold to runway 19 is displaced 635 ft (194 m) for landing due to trees north of the airport. A third, east-west runway (10-28), now abandoned, existed during the 1980s. This runway was closed during the early 1980s because it conflicted with the ILS approach for runway 17 at Plattsburgh Air Force Base. [3] As of 1998, The Clinton County Airport had two above ground 15,000 gallon fuel tanks. One for Jet-A fuel, and the other for 100LL fuel.[3]
For the 12-month period ending October 24, 2006, the airport had 14,150 aircraft operations, an average of 38 per day: 78% general aviation and 22% air taxi. At that time there were 30 aircraft based at this airport: 83% single-engine, 13% multi-engine and 3% jet.
Presumably the last aircraft to fly into Clinton County Airport sits at the end of runway 28 at the Plattsburgh Aeronautical Institute. This Boeing 727 (N279FE) was donated to the Aeronautical institute on August 18, 2011.[4]
Funding and projects edit
Around 1990 the terminal was expanded from 3000 sq ft to 6000 sq ft[3]. In the spring of 1998 the Clinton County Airport underwent a $400,000 project to improve the entrance and parking at the airport. This project included new curbing, sidewalks, and short term parking for the airport cafe which was open 6:30am to 2:00pm daily[3]. The parking lot was divided and the north side of the parking lot was long term parking, and the south side of the parking lot was daytime parking.[3] The Clinton County Airport did not charge for parking.[3]
For safety, security, and capacity type enhancements to the airport, the Clinton County Airport received its funding from a federal program called the Airport Improvement Program. [3] As of 1998, the Clinton County Airport received approximately $500,000 annually from this program.[3] The rest of the funding came from Clinton County and New York State. Also as of 1998, there was a passenger facility charge program of $3 per passenger flying in or out of the Clinton County Airport.
Industrial Park edit
In the fall of 2018, Norsk Titanium started construction of a new 80,000 sq ft facility on the site of the former Clinton County Airport terminal. The facility was completed in fall of 2019.[5] As of 2021, the remainder of the 660 acre Clinton County Airport property remains abandoned and untouched, awaiting possible further development.
- ^ "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Northeastern New York State". www.airfields-freeman.com. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
- ^ "OneDrive". onedrive.live.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h OLC - Clinton County Airport 5-12-98, retrieved 2021-04-07
- ^ HEATHPress-Republican, D. A. N. "Donated FedEx jet lands in Plattsburgh". Press-Republican. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ^ Press-Republican, McKENZIE DELISLE. "New Norsk facility ahead of schedule". Press-Republican. Retrieved 2021-04-29.