The Roland-Désourdy Airport (formerly known as Eastern Townships Regional Airport or simply Bromont Airport) is located west-southwest of
Bromont, Quebec,
Canada.
Traffic at Roland-Désourdy Airport is represented mainly by small, single-engine aircraft; jets and big aircraft are not common. The airport serves
general aviation and has no scheduled flights.
A commercial aircraft maintenance facility also operates in ZBM.
The airport is classified as an
airport of entry by
Nav Canada and is staffed by the
Canada Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
(CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle commercial and general aviation aircraft, with no more than 15 passengers.
Usage
This airport was built for sport-type aviation; there is a school that operates three classic light single-engine aircraft,
Cessna 150,
Cessna 172 and
Piper Cherokee. The
Royal Canadian Air Cadets fly time tested,
Schweizer SGS 2-33 gliders with
tow plane, and
O-1 Bird Dog (Cessna L-19), during spring and late summer camps dedicated to introduction flights for kids and during summer to take young student pilots for solo flight and glider pilot licensing.
The ACE Glider Club is based at the Roland-Désourdy Airport and glider and soaring flight operations normally span from April to October. Military Glider flight operations (Air Cadets) take place only from the grass
runway and are frequently canceled due to wet, muddy, unsafe conditions. Air cadets tow planes take off from the grass runway and land on the asphalt runway. Operation of high performance civil gliders take place on the asphalt runway at ZBM. These high performance gliders use the same pattern and procedures as all other motorized aircraft.
From Roland-Désourdy Airport, it is possible to soar the
cold front wave with a good performance sailplane and, when the
meteorological
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
conditions are favourable, it is possible to get airborne and get into a steady
lift of more than , over very wide areas. With such conditions, one can fly a glider straight at speeds over without losing altitude, making sure not to exceed maximum rough air speed limits in such conditions.
The Roland-Désourdy Airport cold front wave is very predictable; the special meteorological pattern can be spotted before 1200
UTC time, and it repeats itself 63 percent of the time with onsetting cold fronts.
During spring 2007, work began on the construction of a new asphalt runway that permits optimum military glider operations (Air Cadets) which is now . Military training Gliders will be able to take off behind tow from the new runway and land on grass; after landing, the gliders will be in position for the next take off.
The last decades of the 20th century saw a progressive decline of private pilot flights and a decreasing number of small aircraft. The fleet of this region is aging and very few new aircraft are seen due to increasing costs. The possibility to fly
ultralight,
hang gliders and
paragliders attracts many flight enthusiasts.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roland-Desourdy Airport
Certified airports in Montérégie
Gliderports in Canada
Gliding in Canada