Keystone Airpark , also known as Keystone Heights 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 ...

located 3 miles north of

Keystone Heights, Florida Keystone Heights is a city located in southwestern Clay County, Florida, United States. The population of the city was 1,446 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from the state of Pennsylvania's nickname, the "Keystone State". History ...

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

counties. Owned by the Keystone Airpark Authority, this airport is included in the

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 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''

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 ...

'' facility. The airport is adjacent to

Camp Blanding Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, both the Florida Army National Guard and certain nonflying activities of the Florida Air National Guard. The installation is ...

, the

Florida National Guard The Florida National Guard is the National Guard force of the state of Florida. It comprises the Florida Army National Guard and the Florida Air National Guard. The United States Constitution charges the National Guard with dual federal and st ...

Reservation and "Fly through History" Military Museum and Memorial Park. The museum at Camp Blanding is dedicated to the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

units that trained there during the early 1940s.

History

The airport was constructed in 1942 as Crystal Lake Airfield, and was commissioned in December 1942 as Keystone Army Airfield (AAF) by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. It was used as part of the Air University's

Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

(AAFSAT) tactical combat simulation school in Central and Northern Florida. After the end of

, the facility was turned over to the City of Keystone Heights in 1947.

Facilities and aircraft

The airport covers an area of 2,476

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (1,002 ha) 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 196 feet (60 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 two

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 ...

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 ...

s: 5/23 is 5,046 by 100 feet (1,538 x 30 m) and 11/29 is 4,899 by 75 feet (1,493 x 23 m). Airport operations are conducted through the Keystone Heights Airpark Authority Board, one full-time airport manager, one full-time administration assistant and one full-time operations maintenance manager. The airport is home to three flight schools: Distinguished Flyers, Primary Flight Control and the College of Missionary Aviation. There are two full time FAA certified airframe and power plant mechanics located on the airport. Separate from aviation services, the Florida International Rally and Motorsport Park, RallyPro Performance Driving School, and International Security Academy are also located at the airport complex. The businesses located on the airport property employ approximately 80 people. As of September 2018, the airport had 32,400 aircraft operations, an average of 88 per day: 95.7%

, 2.8%

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 ...

, and 1.5%

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 ...

within a 12-month period. At that time, there were 55 aircraft based at this airport: 85.5% 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 ...

, 5.5%

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 ...

, 3.6% multi-engine, 3.6%

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

, and 1.8%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

References

External links

Keystone Hts. Airport (42J)
* brochure fro
CFASPP

Aerial image as of 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 ...

'' *
{{Florida airports Airports in Florida Transportation buildings and structures in Clay County, Florida Transportation buildings and structures in Bradford County, Florida Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Florida