User:Paffordmd72/Sandbox/Current Project

Ishigaki Airport (石垣空港), is a third-class airport located 1 NM from Ishigaki city centre in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The airport fields flights to major cities on the Japanese mainland as well as destinations throughout Okinawa Prefecture and the Yaeyama Islands.

History
The airport was opened in 1943 for military use, and converted to a civilian airport in 1956. The runway was extended from 1200 to 1500 m in 1968, allowing YS-11 aircraft to land.

Future
The airport presently serves about 1.8 million passengers a year, making it the second busiest third-class airport in Japan, behind Kobe Airport, and traffic has been growing steadily as the Yaeyama Islands have become a popular tourist destination. However, the current runway cannot accommodate planes larger than a Boeing 737, and the present site is not suitable for expansion due to urban encroachment. The airport also does not have facilities for handling standard cargo containers.

To meet these needs, New Ishigaki Airport (新石垣空港) is under construction on the eastern side of the island. Plans for the new airport date back to 1979, when the prefectural government planned to build a 2500 m runway by the shore at Shiraho (白保). However, due to concerns about coral, the residents of Shiraho have long opposed the project. In addition, historical artifacts from the Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave Ruins some 18,000 to 15,000 years old have been dug up, impacting the timeline of the project.

The new airport is supposed to have a 2000 m runway, expandable to 2500 m. Construction started in October 2006, for completion by 2013. However, due to delays it is expected to be pushed out.

Accident
Southwest Air Lines Flight 611 took off on runway 36 from Naha Airport on the island of Okinawa at 13:09 for a regular flight to Ishigaki Airport, Japan. The aircraft climbed to the cruising altitude of FL240 (approximately 24,000 ft/7,315 m). On approach to Ishigaki, the crew was given weather information for Ishigaki &mdash; wind 300 degrees at 12 knots; temperature 32 degrees C (89.6 degrees F); active runway: Runway 22. The crew of Flight 611 made a [[crosswind landing at a speed slightly higher than the reference airspeed. The aircraft bounced and on touching down again the spoilers and thrust reversers did not seem to operate. The flight crew shut down both engines but this action disabled the anti-skid braking system, and during the landing roll the inner tires on both main gear legs burst almost simultaneously. Flight 611 overran the runway and came to rest rest 145 meters (476 feet) beyond the threshold at 13:49. Everyone on board was evacuated from the aircraft, and at 14:01 the Boeing 737 caught fire and was destroyed.

None of the 138 passengers and crew were killed in the accident, but 67 were injured after the aircraft overran the runway. Serious injuries were prevented by a quick evacuation although a stewardess and an elderly woman passenger were detained in hospital.