Caboolture Airfield is an

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

catering to

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 service ...

and

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

aircraft located in

Caboolture, Queensland Caboolture () is a town and suburb in Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 26,433 people. It is located on the north side of the Caboolture River, which separates the town from Mora ...

, Australia, approximately north of the state capital

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, adjacent to the

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Nat ...

. The airfield is maintained and operated by the Caboolture Aero Club Incorporated and shares a large training area with nearby

Caloundra Airport Caloundra Airport is a public general aviation airport located in Caloundra West serving the Sunshine Coast in the Australian state of Queensland. The airport is located on a site, of which is occupied by the current facilities. Further gr ...

and Redcliffe Airport. The airfield is a popular site for the restoration of historic aircraft and a number of associated businesses are located onsite.

History and overview

An airstrip was first established at Caboolture prior to 1965 by Norman Douglas Thurecht who would later be a founding member of the Redcliffe Aero Club, after being denied permission to construct an airport at the present site of the Redcliffe Aerodrome owing to a lack of radar coverage in an area with close proximity to the busy Archerfield and Eagle Farm airports serving the city of Brisbane. Following the construction of Redcliffe Aerodrome, the Caboolture airstrip was abandoned and its operations moved to the new facility. The present site of Caboolture Airfield is held by lease from the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

to Caboolture Aero Club. The Moreton Bay Regional Council acts as custodian of the land on behalf of the Queensland Government. Since its inception, the Caboolture Aero Club has owned and operated the site. The Brisbane Valley Gliding Club began operating from the airfield circa 1990, with the club changing its name to Caboolture Gliding Club in May 1991 and establishing its main base at Caboolture. The current lease arrangement for the airfield land is due to expire in 2034.

Operations

The primary user of the airport is the Caboolture Aero Club, however several other flying clubs also are based at the field. These include the Caboolture Gliding Club and Caboolture Microlights, a

Recreational Aviation Australia Recreational Aviation Australia (abbreviated to RAA or RAAus), formerly known as the Australian Ultralight Federation (AUF), is the governing body for ultralights in Australia. RAAus registers ultralight aircraft and issues pilot certificates ...

accredited flight training organisation. Fixed wing and helicopter flight training is available onsite through several providers including Airwork Helicopters, Aero Dynamic Flight Academy and Caboolture Recreational Aviation. In addition to general aviation, recreational and flight training users, the airport is a popular facility for the servicing and restoration of vintage aircraft. A number of organisations operate from Caboolture, including the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre (Queensland) Incorporated (formerly the Beaufort Restoration Group), and Complete Aircraft Care. The vintage aviation community has attracted fly-ins and airshow events to the airport, notably hosting the Queensland Vintage Aeroplane Group's Festival of Flight in 2001 and 2011. The airfield is also home to the Caboolture Warplane and Heritage Museum. Included in their display is a collection of

warbird A warbird is any vintage military aircraft now operated by civilian organizations and individuals, or in some instances, by historic arms of military forces, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the RAAF Museum Historic Flight, or th ...

and other vintage aircraft in flying condition. Currently, the collection includes a

P-51D Mustang Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew, to after World War II, some of which were employed also in the Korean War and in several other conflicts. Allison-engined Mustangs N ...

, SNJ and Winjeel as well as a French built

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier Ni ...

fighter, as well as displays of aviation memorabilia and aircraft engines. Near the warplane museum is The Australian Vintage Aviation Society (TAVAS) Aviation Museum.

Airport facilities

The airfield has two grass runways, both of which operate with a displaced threshold to allow aircraft to sufficiently clear the Bruce Highway and local roads. The primary strip is 11/29 which has an available landing distance measuring . A short sealed area exists at the runway 11 threshold stretching approximately 250m. A secondary strip aligned 06/24 has an available distance of for landings. Use of runway 24 is generally discouraged due to the proximity of Caboolture Hospital on this heading. Aircraft refuelling is available. There is no control tower at the airport and pilots are required to co-ordinate aircraft movements using a

Common Traffic Advisory Frequency Common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) is the name given to the VHF radio frequency used for air-to-air communication at United States, Canadian and Australian non-towered airports. Many towered airports close their towers overnight, keeping ...

(CTAF). The nearest radio navigation aid for aircraft is the Brisbane VOR/ DME installation, to the south. While the airport charges no landing fees for visiting aircraft, a number of hazards exist which make Caboolture challenging for pilots who are unfamiliar with the facilities. Significant bird and wildlife hazards exist on the runways, due in part to the airfield not being fenced and in close proximity to a landfill site. During periods of heavy rain, the unsealed taxiways are prone to becoming waterlogged with a possibility of aircraft becoming bogged.

Accidents and incidents

*On 1 October 2012, vintage

de Havilland DH.84 Dragon The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon is a successful small commercial aircraft that was designed and built by the de Havilland company. Design and construction Following the commercial success of its single-engined de Havilland Fox Moth that had fir ...

Riama ''Riama'' is a genus of lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it exclud ...

'', based at Caboolture crashed north of

Borumba Dam The Borumba Dam is a rock-fill embankment dam with an un-gated spillway located across the Yabba Creek, a tributary of the Mary River, in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. The main purposes of the dam are for irrigation an ...

on the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

killing all six people on board. At the time ''Riama'' was one of only four airworthy examples of the DH.84 in the world. The aircraft was returning to Caboolture from an airshow at

Monto Monto was the nickname for the one-time red light district in the northeast of Dublin, Ireland. The Monto was roughly the area bounded by Talbot Street, Amiens Street, Gardiner Street and Seán McDermott Street (formerly Gloucester Street) in ...

. The final accident report by the

Australian Transport Safety Bureau The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia's national transport safety investigator. The ATSB is the federal government body responsible for investigating transport-related accidents and incidents within Australia. It covers ai ...

(ATSB) was released on 19 December 2013. The ATSB stated that the pilot was not qualified in, and the aircraft not equipped for instrument flight and "... the pilot radioed air traffic control (ATC) and requested navigation assistance, advising that the aircraft was in cloud." They found that: "With no or limited visual references available in and near cloud, it would have been very difficult for the pilot to maintain control of the aircraft. After maintaining control in such conditions for about an hour, and being unable to navigate away from the mountain range, the pilot most likely became spatially disoriented and lost control of the aircraft before it impacted the ground." * On 22 March 2014 a

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206, and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane) are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

belonging to Adrenalin Skydivers crashed shortly after take-off and caught fire, killing the five occupants on board.

Gallery

File:AU-Qld-Caboolture-Airport from Bruce Highway-2021.jpg, Caboolture Airport from the western approach (2021). File:AU-Qld-Caboolture-Airport with taxiing aircraft-2021.jpg, Taxi lane (2021). File:AU-Qld-Caboolture-Airport with RFDS-2021.jpg, Old

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote a ...

VH-FDU 'George Simpson' de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Mk.3a Drover aircraft (2021). File:AU-Qld-Caboolture-Airport with Caribou-2021.jpg, Caribou A4-228 at the airport (2021).

References

External links

Australian Aviation Heritage Centre (Qld) Inc.

Caboolture Warplane and Heritage Museum

TAVAS Museum
{{Airports in Queensland Sunshine Coast, Queensland Airports in Queensland RA-Aus Approved Flight Training Facilities