Smoketown Airport is an

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 ...

open to the public, located in Smoketown, east of Lancaster, in Lancaster County,

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. The airport is owned by Marlin Horst and managed by Mel Glick. The FAA reports an average of 74 aircraft operations per day and also reports that there are 86 aircraft based on the field. The airport also offers 100LL (100 octane low lead aircraft fuel) is available for purchase on the field. The identifier for Smoketown Airport used to be 37PA. FAA changed the identifier to Q08 in 2000, before changing it again in 2004 to its present identifier, S37.

Facilities

Smoketown Airport covers 49

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s and 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 ...

: * Runway 10/28: 2,750 x 50 ft (838.2 x 15.24 m), Surface:

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Runway 10 has a

displaced threshold A displaced threshold or DTHR is a runway threshold located at a point other than the physical beginning or end of the runway. The portion of the runway behind a displaced threshold may be used for takeoff in either direction and landings from the ...

of 517 ft, and Runway 28 has a displaced threshold of 110 ft.

Events

In the past the Smoketown Airport has hosted its local EAA chapter's fly-in however, the event moved to the nearby, larger

Lancaster Airport (Pennsylvania) Lancaster Airport is a public use airport four nautical miles (5 mile, mi, 7 kilometre, km) north of the central business district of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lancaster, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Lancaster County, Pennsyl ...

. After this, the airport began to have its own yearly fly in called the Smoketown Airport Fly-In.

In the news

On January 25, 1994, a Smoketown-based

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piloted by Robert Faber of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, collided with trees and impacted a mountain while in cruise flight, returning from

Bloomsburg Municipal Airport Bloomsburg Municipal Airport is a public non-towered general aviation airport along the Susquehanna River within town limits on the south east corner of Bloomsburg. Services: Columbia Aircraft Services, Inc. Fuel: 100LL Clubs: Parlor City ...

Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania Bloomsburg is a town and the county seat of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located southwest of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre along the Susquehanna River. It is the only ...

. The plane and occupant were not found for four days. Mechanical failure was suspected. On May 12, 2005, Hayden Sheaffer of

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, Pennsylvania and Troy Martin, of

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, Pennsylvania entered restricted air space in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

on the way to an air show in Lumberton,

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. Subsequently, they were forced to land and were subject to having their misadventure broadcast internationally. On August 25, 2009, A student pilot, flying the same aircraft that Hayden Sheafer and Troy Martin flew into DC Airspace, violated the Special Flight Rules area of the District of Columbia. The student pilot was also forced to land at Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Maryland. On March 30, 2013, at approximately 5:45pm EDT, a single-seat

Kolb Firefly The Kolb Firefly is an American open cockpit, single seat, high wing, pusher configuration, conventional landing gear-equipped ultralight aircraft that is produced in kit form by New Kolb Aircraft of London, Kentucky and intended for amateu ...

flown by Michael Blank, 30, crashed at the end of the runway shortly after takeoff. The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. On July 17, 2013, At approximately 1:00pm EDT, a small 2 seat Kitfox experimental aircraft lost engine power while taking off and was forced to make an emergency in a nearby cornfield. Both the pilot and his passenger were not injured.

References

External links

Smoketown Airport's WebsitePennsylvania Bureau of Aviation: Smoketown AirportAir-Tech crashRestricted airspace flightAugust 2009 restricted airspace flight
{{US-airport-minor, S37 Airports in Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania