Knox County Regional Airport is a county-owned, public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

in the town of Owls Head,

Knox County, Maine Knox County is a county located in the state of Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,607. Its county seat is Rockland. The county is named for American Revolutionary War general and Secretary of War Hen ...

, United States. It is located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of

Rockland, Maine Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County, Maine, Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination ...

. The airport serves the residents of midcoast Maine with commercial and charter aviation services. Scheduled airline service is subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program. It is also a major hub of freight and mail service to Maine's island communities including Matinicus, North Haven and Vinalhaven. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

records, the airport had 13,866 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 14,461 enplanements in 2009, and 17,657 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). During the summer months, the airport is one of Maine's busiest, with significant private jet operations bringing visitors to the numerous summer colonies in the Penobscot Bay region. The influx in traffic in recent years prompted the implementation of a voluntary night curfew on arrivals and departures between 10:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Owls Head Transportation Museum is also situated at the airport on the remains of runway 17/35, a third runway that is now abandoned. It has a museum of antique autos, aircraft, and engines. During the summer special event gatherings are held for enthusiasts.

History

The airport was built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and became locally known as the "Ash Point Naval Air Station" while officially operating as Rockland Naval Auxiliary Air Facility (NAAF) from April 15, 1943 until February 1, 1946. With the familiar triangle of runways (the third runway was discontinued in the 1970s) it was one of a string of military airports along the Maine coast supporting operations of

Naval Air Station Brunswick Naval Air Station Brunswick , also known as NAS Brunswick, was a military airport located southeast of Brunswick, Maine, with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the last aircraft ( P-3 Orions) left. The ...

. After the war, it was operated by the City of Rockland until 1968. It was then turned over to Knox County and renamed ''Knox County Regional Airport''. Since that time, the airport has been developed, the runways expanded, and an

Instrument Landing System In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS) was installed.

Facilities and aircraft

Knox County Regional Airport covers an area of 538 acres (218 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 56 feet (17 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

s: 13/31 is 5,007 by 100 feet (1,526 × 30 m) and 3/21 is 4,000 by 100 feet (1,219 × 30 m). For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2010, the airport had 55,125 aircraft operations, an average of 151 per day: 76%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 18%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, 5% scheduled commercial, and <1%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. At that time there were 79 aircraft based at this airport: 95% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 3% multi-engine, 1% jet, and 1%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Accidents and incidents

*In 1979,

Downeast Flight 46 Downeast Airlines Flight 46 was a scheduled airline service in the United States from Boston's Logan International Airport to Rockland, Maine operated by Downeast Airlines. On May 30, 1979 a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter operating the fli ...

crashed on approach to the airport when the pilots descended below the minimum allowable altitude in difficult weather and failed to correct their error. All but 1 on board were killed.

Citations

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-1997-2784
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

: *
Order 2004-10-16 (October 25, 2004)
reselecting Colgan Air, Inc., to provide subsidized Essential Air Service (EAS) at Presque Isle/Houlton, Augusta/Waterville, Bar Harbor and Rockland, Maine, for a two-year period at a combined annual subsidy rate of $4,312,849. *
Order 2006-8-24 (August 25, 2006)
reselecting Colgan Air, Inc., operating as

US Airways Express US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously ...

, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Presque Isle/Houlton, Augusta/Waterville, Bar Harbor, and Rockland, Maine, at a total annual subsidy rate of $4,774,068 ($3,572,592 for Augusta/Waterville, Bar Harbor, and Rockland; $1,201,476 for Presque Isle/Houlton), for the two-year period of November 1, 2006, through October 31, 2008. **
Order 2008-7-35 (July 31, 2008)
selecting Hyannis Air Service, Inc. d/b/a Cape Air (Cape Air) to provide subsidized EAS at Rockland, Maine, at an annual subsidy of $1,522,770, for a two-year period beginning when Cape Air inaugurates full EAS, through the end of the 24th month thereafter. *
Order 2010-9-28 (September 28, 2010)
selecting Hyannis Air Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air, to provide essential air service (EAS) at Augusta/Waterville and Rockland, Maine, for the four-year period from November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2014, for a combined annual subsidy of $2,783,161, and Colgan Air Inc., operating as US Airways Express, to provide EAS at Bar Harbor, Maine, for the two-year period from November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2012, for an annual subsidy of $2,298,533.

External links

Knox County Regional Airport
at Knox County website
Aerial image as of May 1996
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' * {{authority control Airports in Maine Buildings and structures in Rockland, Maine Essential Air Service Transportation buildings and structures in Knox County, Maine