Small airports are disappearing

[dogg57]

Guess it is like everything else. It is a shame.The number of public use and general aviation airports in New Jersey has dropped from 82 in 1950 to 44 today, according to the state Department of Transportation. The sale of Newton Airport, located on Stickles Pond Road in Andover Township, makes it the latest airport to close, leaving Sussex County with three airports -- Trinca in Green, Aeroflex-Andover in Andover and Sussex Airport in Wantage -- according to the state.

http://www.njherald.com/story/20573058/up-up-and-away-small-airports-are-disappearing

 

[Jerseyman]

Dogg:

It's a shame that we are losing so many small airfields. I remember soon after 9-11 occurred, the federal government expressed interest in restricting personal aircraft use and conducting a wholesale closure of small airfields. It looks like they are getting their wish.

Although I try to refrain from providing URLs to websites that others can find on their own, I think the following link will prove interesting:

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NJ/Airfields_NJ.htm

It even features Lucky Mahalchik’s landing strip along Route 206!

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[Gibby]

It even features Lucky Mahalchik’s landing strip along Route 206!

I haven't heard Lucky's name mentioned in many years. I remember taking a ride past Columbus to visit his salvage loaded airport one summer, when I was a child. My dad needed a obscure part off one of the blimp gondolas he had lined up. My memory of Lucky is nothing but the best because he let an energetic seven year old play around on the small steam locomotive he had in his yard and he lived in a teepee. John Mahalchik was one of a kind!

 

[Boyd]

I posted this map awhile ago that includes all the airports in South Jersey from the NJ POI data. The green area represents the boundaries of the Pinelands reserve. I know for a fact that a number of them no longer exist.

View attachment 1895

 

[Star Tree]

Newton (Jump) Airport was bought out by the power company. The lines just to the north are being raised about 100'. This would make things really interesting if you were trying to land or take off from there.
Over all the aviation business isn't doing that great. I believe it's a combination of the economy and lack of interest among the younger generations.

 

[MarkBNJ]

I think general aviation is disappearing, and the airports would go with it. My Mom and Dad both received their certificates in the late 60's, and for awhile my Dad owned a Piper 180 with a friend of his. On Sunday mornings we'd all pile into one or two planes and head off to a fly-in pancake breakfast somewhere. It was like owning a camper, or a sailboat. These days its gotten too damn expensive to own and operate aircraft, given the costs of insurance and fuel.

 

[Boyd]

My father owned a private plane before he joined the Navy in WW2. That is where he met my mother... apparently she enjoyed hanging out with guys who had airplanes.

From the old pictures I have, his plane looked like a "fixer-upper"... I guess things were a lot different back in the 1930's. He used to tell me stories about crazy things they did when he attended Parks Air College in Missouri. His father was very disappointed that he chose a career in aeronautical engineering - he was an old world type and didn't think there was any future in airplanes; he expected his sons to become doctors.