Kempen Airport or Budel Airport (Dutch: Vliegveld Kempen), also just called
Budel
Budel is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Cranendonck, 25 km outside Eindhoven. Kempen Airport is located near Budel.
History
It was first mentioned in 779 as in Budilio, and means "place ...
after the nearby town, is a
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 ...
airport in the south-east of the
Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
located west of
Weert
Weert (; li, Wieërt ) is a municipality and city in the southeastern Netherlands located in the western part of the province of Limburg. It lies on the Eindhoven–Maastricht railway line, and is also astride the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal.
Popu ...
and near the border with
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. Its main runway, 03/21, is a long asphalt runway. There is a second runway for
microlight aircraft
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 Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...
only, located next to the main runway, and is long.
The airport opened in 1970, initially only with a grass runway. An asphalt runway was created in 1991 of , which was expanded later to its current length. Approach and runway lighting followed, making the airport suitable for
IFR
In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR).
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...
flights. With around 80,000 movements (a movement being a
takeoff
Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff.
For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...
or
landing
Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or ...
) a year, it is amongst the largest general aviation airports in the Netherlands. International flights are allowed to and from the airport and it is used extensively by business aircraft, accounting for 80% of all aircraft movements.
Accidents
*On October 26, 2009, a
Pilatus PC-12
The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft, manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland, since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in ad ...
registered PH-RUL on its way to
Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport
Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport (german: Flugplatz Frankfurt-Egelsbach) is a general aviation airport located near Egelsbach, a town in the German state of Hesse. It is located southeast of Frankfurt Airport.
History
The airport was opened in 19 ...
crashed in a field shortly after take-off from Kempen Airport's Runway 21. The two people on board died. An investigation was performed by the