Springfield–Beckley Municipal Airport

Springfield–Beckley Municipal Airport is a civil-military airport five miles (8 km) south of Springfield, in Clark County, Ohio, United States. It is owned by the city of Springfield. It is named after the Beckley family, a member of which knew the Wright Brothers, and witnessed and photographed their first flights.

Three units of the Ohio Air National Guard, including the 178th Wing (formerly 178th Fighter Wing), are based at the co-located Springfield Air National Guard Base.

The airport is home to events such as airshows, which feature vintage airplanes, and fly-ins. The airport previously hosted the Commemorative Air Force.

The airport is also home to flight schools. Flight training is available for students at the Clark State Community College.

History
Springfield had scheduled airline flights on TWA in 1948-50 and on Lake Central in 1953-55.

In 2005, the 178th Fighter Wing lost its F-16 training mission due to the Base Realignment and Closure Act.

The airport received an updated master plan in 2016.

The airport was praised for record-braking fuel sales during the onset of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The airport was named the 2023 Ohio Airport of the Year by the Ohio Aviation Association.

The airport was formerly home to the Ohio Center for Precision Agriculture.

Airport Facilities
The airport covers 1,516 acre and has two runways. Runway 06/24 measures 9,010 x 150 ft (2,746 x 46 m) and is paved with asphalt. Runway 15/33 measures 5,498 x 100 ft (1,676 x 30 m) and is also asphalt. The airport has a fixed-base operator that sells fuel. It offers services such as catering, hangaring, and courtesy cars and amenities such as internet, conference rooms, vending machines, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, television, and more.

In 2021, the airport received over $2 million in federal grants for runway rehabilitation and improving runway lighting. An additional $226,000 grant that year, approved to provide greater access to drive and parking areas for facilities at the airport, allowed for an electric charging station in addition to a controlled flight simulator.

Additional runway upgrades began in 2022. These updates focused on removing and reinstalling a taxiway, which had surpassed its useful life and did not conform to FAA standards. Further lighting upgrades were also approved.

Millions of dollars were approved for upgrades at the airport in early 2023. That year, new $1.2 million hangars opened. The airport's aircraft parking ramp was also expanded to accommodate the projected growth plans of a maintenance shop at the airport.

UAS Testing
The airport is home to the Ohio UAS Center, which is managed by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Plans for the center initially began in 2013 in an effort to secure one of six UAS test sites created by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport pushed to build UAS testing facilities for the United States government for years. The first UAS testing at the airport was approved in 2019, when the United States Air Force began testing drones at the airport through the Air Force Research Lab.

The airport is home to flight testing for Amazon and Walmart home delivery services. It is also the site of the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence, which will focus on research into autonomous flight, electrical vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, and electric flight on behalf of the US Department of Defense.

The airport has specially-designed airspace to protect these operations as well as unique surveillance radar that operates out of a converted bus.

Aircraft
In the year ending November 8, 2022 the airport had 32,770 aircraft operations, average 90 per day: 99% general aviation, <1% military, and <1% air taxi. 32 aircraft were then based at this airport: 23 single-engine and 7 multi-engine airplanes, 1jet aircraft, and 1 helicopter.

Accidents and incidents

 * On February 9, 1988, a British Aerospace Jetstream operated by Jetstream International Airlines on a training flight yawed and rolled while executing a go around. The aircraft subsequently pitched up, rolled and entered a vertical descent and impacted the ground. All three crew were killed.
 * On June 23, 2004, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground after takeoff from the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport. The pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings at the airport. During climbout from the third approach, the airplane "dropped" and impacted the runway, first on its main landing gear, and then on its nose landing gear. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, resulting in a stall and hard landing.
 * On August 23, 2015, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk was damaged while landing at the Springfield–Beckley Municipal Airport. The pilot reported that, during landing, he bounced hard two times. After the second bounce, he applied full power to go around. The pilot continued his cross-country flight to his final destination and landed without further incident. A post-flight inspection revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot's improper pitch control during landing, which resulted in a hard landing.
 * On October 15, 2016, a Piper PA-34 Seneca was damaged during landing at the Springfield–Beckley Municipal Airport. The pilot made his approach with extra power to compensate for gusting winds. After the airplane's main landing gear touched down, the aircraft was disturbed by a wind gust and ballooned by 50 to 100 feet. Though the pilot initiated a go-around, the airplane impacted the runway in a flat attitude, and the nose landing gear was pushed/driven through the top of the cowling. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot’s inadequate compensation for gusting wind during the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
 * On December 2, 2017, a small plane landed in a field near the airport.
 * On October 2, 2023, a small plane crashed at the airport.