Southwest Washington Regional Airport is a city-owned 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 two nautical mile

Nautical mile

The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...

s (3.7 km) southeast of the central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of Kelso

Kelso, Washington

Kelso is a city in southwest Washington State, United States, and is the county seat of Cowlitz County. At the 2010 census, the population was 11,925. Kelso is part of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 102,410. Kelso shares its long western border...

, in Cowlitz County, Washington

Cowlitz County, Washington

Cowlitz County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census its population was 102,410. It forms the Longview, Washington, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. The county seat is at Kelso, and its largest city is Longview...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The airport was renamed in 2009,
prior to which it was known as Kelso-Longview Regional Airport or Molt Taylor

Moulton Taylor

Moulton B. "Molt" Taylor was an aeronautical engineer famed for his work on developing a practical flying car.- Life :Taylor was born in Portland, Oregon and studied engineering at the University of Washington...

 Field.

History

Kelso-Longview Airport opened in May 1941 on 109 acre (0.44110774 km²) of a nearby dairy farm, as a training field for amateur pilots, and has since become a regional transportation center for southwest Washington. In 1950 the old landing strip was paved, and in the 1960s the first administration and terminal buildings were built.

Facilities and aircraft

Southwest Washington Regional Airport covers an area of 110 acres (45 ha) at 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 20 feet (6 m) above mean sea level. It has one asphalt

Asphalt

Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 paved 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 12/30 which measure 4,391 x 100 ft (30.5 m). (1,338 x 30 m). It is separated for takeoffs and landings (the airport, faced with growing air traffic, segmented their runway in 1980).

For the 12-month period ending March 30, 2008, the airport had 40,860 aircraft operations, an average of 111 per day: 94% 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...

, 4% air taxi

Air taxi

An air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...

 and 2% military

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...

. At that time there were 71 aircraft based at this airport: 85% single-engine

Aircraft engine

An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...

, 10% multi-engine, 1% jet

Jet aircraft

A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...

 and 4% ultralight.

The airport has one passenger terminal consisting of 12 gates. Gates 1-4 are for large jet aircraft and the other gates are for private planes or medium-sized jets.

External links

• Southwest Washington Regional Airport, official site
• Airport Web Cam at WSDOT Aviation site
• Aerial photo as of 24 July 2000 from USGS The National Map