Craig Field is a public airport four miles southeast of Selma, in Dallas County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The FAA's

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''

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

'' facility. It was previously

Craig Air Force Base Craig Air Force Base near Selma, Alabama, was a U.S. Air Force undergraduate pilot training (UPT) installation that closed in 1977. Today the facility is a civilian airport known as Craig Field Airport and Industrial Complex (ICAO: KSEM; FAA ...

, an Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) base with

T-37 Tweet The Cessna T-37 Tweet (designated Model 318 by Cessna) is a small, economical twin-engine jet trainer aircraft. It was flown for decades as a primary trainer of the United States Air Force (USAF) as well as in the air forces of several other nati ...

and

T-38 Talon The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet supersonic jet trainer designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the world's first supersonic trainer as well as the most produced. The T-38 can be tra ...

aircraft operated by the 29th Flying Training Wing of the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

. Craig AFB was closed in 1977 as part of reduced defense spending and a concurrent post-

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

reduction in force.

Facilities

Craig Field covers at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

of 166 feet (51 m). Its single operational runway, Rwy 15/33, is 8,002 by 150 feet (2,439 x 46 m) asphalt/concrete. In the year ending November 2, 2009, the airport had 38,550 aircraft operations, an average 105 per day: 89%

, 10% military, and 1%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

. Eight single-engine aircraft were then based at the airport. The former USAF air traffic control tower from what was

remains but, as of 2007 it was unmanned, with

UNICOM A UNICOM (universal communications) station is an air-ground communication facility operated by a non-air traffic control private agency to provide advisory service at uncontrolled aerodromes and airports and to provide various non-flight service ...

being used as a common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF). Both parallel runways still exist, but only one is actively maintained and in use. The Craig

VORTAC Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range Station (VOR) is a type of short-range VHF radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a VOR receiver to determine the azimuth (also radial), referenced to magnetic north, between the a ...

and the Instrument Landing System (ILS) for the current Runway 33 remain operational. The airport's military traffic consists mostly of training aircraft, either fixed-wing aircraft on sorties from nearby Columbus AFB or Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi,

NAS Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United Sta ...

NAS Whiting Field Naval Air Station Whiting Field is a United States Navy base located near Milton, Florida, with some outlying fields near Navarre, Florida, in south and central Santa Rosa County, and is one of the Navy's two primary pilot training bases (the ...

in Florida, or rotary-wing aircraft from

Fort Novosel Fort Rucker is a United States Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was formerly named in honor of Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel, an Army aviator and Medal of Honor recipient. It was previously name ...

in Alabama or NAS Whiting Field, Florida. Prior to its 2007 closure by L3 Corporation, now

L3Harris L3Harris Technologies, Inc. is an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produces products for command and control systems, wireless equipment, tactical radios, avionics and electroni ...

, other military training and operational support airlift aircraft were inbound to the L3 Communications/Vertex Aerospace facility at the airport for contracted maintenance.https://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2006/07/27/l-3-vertex-aerospace-closes/ The former military family housing was sold to individual owners shortly after base closure and has decayed compared to its previous military occupants. Multiple civilian government and corporate tenants have taken up residency. The former on-base elementary school continues as the civilian-run Craig Elementary, and the former base golf course continues as the Craig Golf Course and Driving Range. The Alabama Highway Patrol (AHP) operates both its training academy and its headquarters for AHP's F Troop at Craig. In 2015,

Marine One Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president of the United States. As of 2024, it is most frequently applied to a presidential transport helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX ...

used Craig Field when President Barack Obama visited Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. Craig Field has never have had airline service; Selma's previous airport, Selma Municipal Airport saw commercial service with

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

, then

Southern Airways Southern Airways was a local service carrier, a scheduled airline certificated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board, in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with North Central Airlines to b ...

, from 1952 to 1963. When Craig AFB was closed as an active USAF installation, it became the city's airport and Selma Municipal Airport was closed.

References

External links

* * {{AL Airport Airports in Dallas County, Alabama

Facilities

See also

References

External links