Saline County Airport , also known as Watts Field, was a county-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 one mile (2 km) west 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 Benton

Benton, Arkansas

Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. According to a 2006 Special Census conducted at the request of the city government, the population of the city is 27,717, ranking it as the state's 16th largest...

, a city in Saline County, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, United States

United States

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

. The airport's address was 401 Airline Drive in Benton.

The airport opened in 1957. Construction on the new Saline County Regional Airport

Saline County Regional Airport

Saline County Regional Airport is a county-owned public-use airport located five nautical miles east of the central business district of Benton, a city in Saline County, Arkansas, United States...

  began in November 2002 and it opened on March 12, 2007. The existing was closed after the new airport opened.

Facilities and aircraft

Saline County Airport covered an area of 72 acres (29.1 ha) which 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 17/35 with a 3,980 x 50 ft (1,213 x 15 m) 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...

 surface. For the 12-month period ending August 31, 2006, the airport had 39,000 aircraft operations, an average of 106 per day: 99% 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...

 and 1% military. At that time there were 44 aircraft based at this airport: 95% single-engine and 5% helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

.

External links

• Saline County Airport / Watts Field page at Saline County web site
• Map showing directions from Watts Field to Saline County Regional Airport