Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy 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 surface ...

located three miles (5 km) northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Howell Howell may refer to: Places In the United Kingdom *Howell, Lincolnshire, England In the United States *Howell, Georgia * Howell, Evansville, a neighborhood of Evansville, Indiana *Howell, Michigan *Howell, Missouri *Howell, Utah *Howell Cou ...

, a city in Livingston County,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States. It is included in the

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 m ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a regional reliever airport facility. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...

for the

FAA 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 m ...

and

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

, Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport is assigned OZW by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.

History

The airport was originally on land where an elementary school currently sits and nearby where baseball and softball games were played. The airport received a single air mail flight in the late 1930s, drawing significant attention from the town. The airport was moved to its current location in the 1940s, and Livingston County purchased it for $1 in the 1960s. The airport was soon expanded and received its first paved runway. The current airport terminal was built in the mid 1960s, followed by T-Hangers in the 1970s. The airport got a runway extension in 1988 as business aircraft became more advanced, and a full-length, lighted parallel taxiway was also constructed. A weather observation system was commissioned soon after. In the 2010s, airport expansions were approved multiple times when the airport was allowed to lease new land for hangars. In 2021, the airport received a grant from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve runway facilities, airport/transit connections, and nearby roadway projects. The airport generates $1.5 million in direct economic benefits and over $25 million in total economic benefits to the community.

Facilities and aircraft

Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport covers an area of which contains one

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 concrete, as ...

designated 13/31 with a 5,002 x 100 ft (1,525 x 30 m)

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

surface. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021, the airport had almost 45,000 aircraft operations, or 123 per day. It was all

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 ...

. For the same time period, there are 115 aircraft based on the airport: 89 single-engine and 154single engine

airplanes An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...

, 7 jets, and 5

helicopters 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 ...

. The airport is staffed Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. It has a

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, ...

offering fuel, catering, aircraft parking, courtesy cars, conference rooms, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, showers, and more. It is accessible by road from County Airport Drive, and is close to M-59 and

I-96 Interstate 96 (I-96) is an east–west Interstate Highway that runs for approximately entirely within the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The western terminus is at an interchange with US Highway 31 (US 31) and Bus ...

Gallery

Image:Livingston County Airport Terminal Exterior Howell Michigan.JPG, Airport terminal exterior Image:Livingston County Airport Terminal Interior Howell Michigan.JPG, Airport terminal interior Image:Livingston County Airport Terminal Tarmac & Hangars Howell Michigan.JPG, Airport tarmac & hangars

Accidents & Incidents

*In January 2017, a private Cessna Citation jet overshot the runway in Livingston, crashing through an airport fence and came to rest on a nearby road. *On August 20, 2019, an

Aero Commander Aero Commander was an aircraft manufacturer formed in 1944. In subsequent years, it became a subsidiary of Rockwell International and Gulfstream Aerospace. The company ceased aircraft production in 1986. History Aero was formed in Culver City, C ...

crashed while attempting to land at Hardy Airport. The two on board were killed. The crash was eventually blamed on a faulty air filter that became dislodged and blocked air from getting into the engine, causing a loss of engine power. *On September 16, 2021, a

Mooney M20 The Mooney M20 is a family of piston-powered, four-seat, propeller-driven, general aviation aircraft, all featuring low wings and tricycle gear, manufactured by the Mooney International Corporation.Munson, Kenneth & Michael Taylor: ''Jane's ...

landed in a field while trying to make an emergency landing in Livingston.

References

External links

Livingston County Airport
official site * Airports in Michigan Buildings and structures in Livingston County, Michigan Transportation in Livingston County, Michigan {{Michigan-airport-stub