The Roscommon Conservation Airport ( FAA

LID A lid or cover is part of a container, and serves as the closure (container), closure or Seal (mechanical), seal, usually one that completely closes the object. Lids can be placed on small containers such as Tub (container), tubs as well as large ...

: 3RC) is a publicly owned, public use airport located 2 miles southeast of

Roscommon Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...

Roscommon County, Michigan Roscommon County ( ') is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,459. The county seat is Roscommon. The county was founded in 1840 and organized in 1875. History The county was formed by ...

. It is located on 100

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s at an elevation of 1157 feet. The airport is owned by the

Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan founded in 1921, charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appoint ...

and is largely used to support the agency's operations in the area. The agency focuses particularly on forest preservation in Roscommon County, including managing and combating

forest fires A forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Au ...

. As it is open to the public, the airport also sees significant traffic from golfers coming into the nearby Forest Dunes golf club. The club provides shuttle services to the airport to assist golfers flying to Roscommon Conservation Airport to visit the club.

Facilities and aircraft

Roscommon Conservation Airport has two

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s. Runway 10/28 measures 3552 x 75 ft (1083 x 23 m) and is paved with

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

. Runway 18/36 measures 2500 x 100 ft (762 x 30 m) and is

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

. In 2020, work began at the airport to renovate runway 10/28. Though delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, work at the airport was completed in 2021. Work was done to adjust paving cross sections and grading; in particular, the width of the concrete supporting the runway was doubled. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the airport averages 504 aircraft operations per year, an average of 42 per month. It is all

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 ...

. For the same time period, 3

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

are based at the airport, all

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

s: 2 single-engine and 1 multi-engine. There is no

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down, and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...

at the airport, and no

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...

is available.

Accidents and incidents

* On May 20, 2001, a

Cessna 152 The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed- tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use. It was based on the earlier Cessna 150 incorporating a number of minor design changes and a slightl ...

collided with trees after an aborted takeoff from Roscommon Conservation Airport. The pilot reported that the takeoff roll was longer than expected, likely due to heavy loading, the rough runway surface, and a relatively high density altitude. The aircraft lifted off on time, but during climbout, the pilot "sensed a lack of acceleration and climb performance," so he lowered the nose to gain airspeed. The pilot subsequently pitched for based angle of climb airspeed, but the aircraft still would not climb, and it became evident that it would not clear the trees ahead. The pilot therefore decided to settle back to the airport and risk damaging the aircraft instead of likely serious bodily harm. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the trees, with factors including a tailwind, high weight and density altitude, the rough runway, and the pilot's failure to calculate takeoff performance.

References

{{Reflist Aviation in Michigan Airports in Michigan Transportation in Roscommon County, Michigan Buildings and structures in Roscommon County, Michigan

Facilities and aircraft

Accidents and incidents

See also

References