Rockingham County NC Shiloh 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 ...

in Rockingham County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is located off of J.J. Webster Highway in the town of Stoneville, eight nautical miles (15 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 ...

of the city of Reidsville It is also known as Rockingham County/NC Shiloh Airport, Rockingham County/Shiloh Airport, or simply as Shiloh Airport.

History

In 1960 community leaders in

Rockingham County, North Carolina Rockingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,096. Its county seat is Wentworth. The county is known as "North Carolina's North Star." Rockingham County is included in ...

considered establishing an airport to attract industry and support economic development. The

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

authorized the county to appoint an airport authority to build and operate an airport, but the county board of commissioners did not appoint anyone to the body until 1965. The authority encountered some difficulty in choosing a site for the strip. Construction began in the community of Shiloh in 1970, and the project was named Shiloh Airport instead of Rockingham Airport to avoid confusion with the city of Rockingham on the other side of the state. Funded by state and federal grants and about $100,000 in donations from local businesses, the airport was finished in 1975. From its opening, the airport was managed by contracted operators whose profits were derived from the sale of aviation fuel. The airport briefly closed in 1977 after the contracted operator died. A new contractor was found, but struggled to turn a profit since few

corporate jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...

s used the facilities, leaving fuel sales low. In 1986 the airport's runway was extended from 3,900 feet to 5,200 feet. By 1995 the airport had a poor reputation among corporate flyers, as the low profits of the contractors forced them to keep staff minimal and fuel stocks low. That year, the airport authority, responding to the complaints about poor service, attempted to sever its contract with the operator at the time, Aerosports of North Carolina Inc. A legal battle ensued, resulting in the contractor leaving but also draining the airport of most of its money. In April 1996 the county commissioners appointed a new airport authority to directly manage the airport and restore its reputation, and later that month the airport hosted its first

air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show m ...

Facilities and aircraft

The airport covers an area of at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 694 feet (212 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has 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 an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface measuring 5,199 by 100 feet (1,585 x 30 m). It has several hangers and a single-story terminal building. For the 12-month period ending July 30, 2008, the airport had 24,100 aircraft operations, an average of 66 per day: 99.6%

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 0.4%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. At that time there were 66 aircraft based at this airport: 88% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and 12% multi-engine.

References

External links

Aerial image as of 28 February 1999
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * {{US-airport-ga, SIF, - Airports in North Carolina Transportation in Rockingham County, North Carolina Buildings and structures in Rockingham County, North Carolina