Jackass Aeropark was a public-use airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 located in Amargosa Valley

Amargosa Valley, Nevada

Amargosa Valley is an unincorporated community in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada.-Description:The community is named for the Amargosa River which flows through the valley from its origination in Nevada to its terminus in Death Valley, California...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. It was named after Jackass Flats, Nevada, where wild jackasses

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

 once gathered to graze on the Nevada Test Site

Nevada Test Site

The Nevada National Security Site , previously the Nevada Test Site , is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about northwest of the city of Las Vegas...

.

History

The airfield was opened in 1949 as Lathrop Wells Airport with an unpaved 4700 feet (1,433 m) runway. In 1957 the runway was 5000 feet (1,524 m) and by 1959 the airport was closed. It reopened in 1964 as Jackass Aeropark with an unpaved 6200 feet (1,890 m) runway built to the west of the former airstrip. The airport was owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...

. It was deactivated by the Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 on May 18, 2004.

Facilities and aircraft

Jackass Aeropark resided an elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 2640 ft (805 m) above mean sea level. It contained one runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

 designated 14/32 with a dirt

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

 surface measuring 6200 by. The airport had an average of 50 aircraft operations per month: 83% transient general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

, 17% local general aviation and <1% military aviation

Military aviation

Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...

. A 2003 Nevada DOT airport diagram showed a 2200 by 50 ft (670.6 by 15.2 ) taxiway

Taxiway

A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports sometimes use gravel or grass....

 and a 250 by 250 ft (76.2 by 76.2 ) apron with a hangar

Hangar

A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

 and 8 covered tie-downs.

External links

• Aerial photo as of 1 June 1998 from USGS The National Map
• Aeronautical chart showing area of former airport from SkyVector