Princeton Airport is a 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 ...

in Montgomery, Somerset County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, three miles (5 km) north of

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

and just west of Rocky Hill. The airport is privately owned by Princeton Aero Corp. The airport houses the Princeton Flying School, Elite Flight Experience/Cirrus Training Center, Pacific Aircraft, Analar Helicopter Charter and Platinum Helicopters.

History

The airport was established by Richard A. Newhouse (original spelling ''Neuhaus''). Among his other aviation-related projects, in 1911 he built a plane of his own design, featuring separate floating

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s — a major innovation, as the planes of that time used

wing warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...

for

roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

control. The paved runway opened about 1965, and the airport has since had occasional commuter airline flights— e.g. in 1979, Princeton Airways was operating fifteen scheduled passenger flights to Newark each weekday with

Britten-Norman Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

capable aircraft. Princeton Airways also flew scheduled passenger service from the airport with the

GAF Nomad The GAF Nomad is a utility aircraft produced by the Government Aircraft Factories (GAF) of Australia in Melbourne. Supported by the Australian Government, design work began in the mid-1960s, and it made its maiden flight on 23 July 1971. Despi ...

capable turboprop. On March 29, 1985, the airport was purchased by Princeton Aero Corp. Principals of the company are members of the Nierenberg family, previously the

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 Kupper Airport for eighteen years. Princeton Flying School (formerly Raritan Valley Flying School) operates a Part 61 FAA-approved flight school at the airport.

Facilities

Princeton Airport covers and has one paved

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 ...

(10/28), 3,500 x 75 ft (1,067 x 23 m). In the year ending July 2, 2012 the airport had 39,421 aircraft operations, average 108 per day: 87%

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 ...

and 13%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

. 48 aircraft are based at the airport: 85% single engine, 2% multi-engine and 13%

helicopter 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 ...

References

External links

Princeton Airport
(official site)
Princeton Flying School
(official site) Airports in New Jersey Montgomery Township, New Jersey Transportation buildings and structures in Somerset County, New Jersey {{NewJersey-struct-stub