Lake City Gateway Airport is a city-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 surfa ...

located three nautical miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Lake City, in Columbia County, Florida, United States. Formerly known as Lake City Municipal Airport, it is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems 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.

History

NAS Lake City

The airport was initially built in the early 1930s by a Lake City Flying Club, and acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during World War II to facilitate pilot training and named Naval Air Station Lake City and commissioned in December 1942, as NAS Lake City. Established as one of several support facilities to

NAS Jacksonville Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville) is a large naval air station located approximately eight miles (13 km) south of the central business district of Jacksonville, Florida, United States., effective 2007-10-25 Location NAS Jack ...

, NAS Lake City was used to train

and U.S. Marine Corps pilots in land-based

PV-1 Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in ...

s and

PV-2 Harpoon The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in 1 ...

s. Maximum complement at the air station reached 290 officers and 1,150 enlisted personnel. As many as 200 additional officer and enlisted

WAVES Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. *Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music *Waves (band) ...

were stationed at NAS Lake City later in the war and served in air traffic control, meteorological services, administrative support, and aircraft maintenance. Regular military operations terminated in March 1946 and NAS Lake City was decommissioned as an active naval air station.

Lake City Municipal Airport

The NAS Lake City property was deemed surplus and subsequently conveyed to the city of Lake City by the War Assets Administration (WAA) and renamed Lake City Municipal Airport. One of the first major tenants was Aero Corporation, which occupied the vacated military hangars and maintenance facilities, performing aircraft modification and rehabilitation during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, mostly U.S. military contracts supporting C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion aircraft. Aero Corporation was subsequently acquired by TIMCO, which was then acquired by Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (

HAECO Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (HAECO) is a leading independent aircraft engineering and maintenance group with its head office located at Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's m ...

), privately owned by Swire Pacific, which performs depot level maintenance on

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

and

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

commercial aircraft.

Lake City Gateway Airport

In 2011, the airport completed construction of a new 6,000-square foot, fixed-base operations, terminal facility to support business jets and general aviation aircraft operators. In addition, the airport was renamed Lake City Gateway Airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Lake City Gateway Airport (LCQ) covers an area of 1,250 acres (506 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 § Ver ...

of 201 feet (61 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. 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 ...

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, concre ...

s: 10/28 is 8,003 by 150 feet (2,439 x 46 m) and 5/23 is 4,000 by 75 feet (1,219 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending September 8, 2009, the airport had 28,714 aircraft operations, an average of 78 per day: 86%

, 9%

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 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) ...

. At that time there were 33 aircraft based at this airport: 67% 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 ...

, 18% multi-engine, 9% jet, and 6%

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 ...

. With its long main runway (8,003 feet), operational Non-Federal Air Traffic Control Tower, minimal air traffic, and land to develop, the airport is ideal for Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facilities. The airport supports MRO facilities, such as the Aero Corporation starting in 1961, which was acquired by TIMCO Aviation Services in late 1990s and was acquired in February 2014 by

. HAECO modifies and repairs large aircraft, such as commercial

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

and various

airliners, as well as military C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion aircraft for US military and US civilian operators, as well as overseas military and civilian customers. United States Department of Agriculture operates an Air Tanker Base at LCQ that supports the suppression of wildfires in the southeast regions of the United States. Med Trans is based at LCQ and operates a helicopter air ambulance service for the North Central Florida area.

References

External links

Lake City Gateway Airport
at Lake City website
Aerial image as of January 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 pro ...

'' * * {{Florida airports Airports in Florida Transportation buildings and structures in Columbia County, Florida Lake City, Florida 1942 establishments in Florida Closed installations of the United States Navy