Zephyrhills Municipal 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 surfa ...

Pasco County, Florida Pasco County is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 census, the population was 561,691. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest city is Zephyrhills. The county is named after Samuel Pas ...

, United States. It is owned by the City of Zephyrhills and located one nautical mile (2 km) southeast of its central business district. This airport 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

Opened in January 1942, the airport was used 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 ...

, specifically the

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 headquartered at

Orlando Army Air Base Orlando Executive Airport is a public airport three miles (6 km) east of downtown Orlando, in Orange County, Florida. It is owned and operated by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) and serves general aviation. Overview Orlando ...

. The military presence at the airport ended on October 31, 1944, and, in 1947, the airport was deeded to the city, which has run it ever since.

Facilities and aircraft

Zephyrhills Municipal Airport covers an area of 813 acres (329 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 90 feet (27 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

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 with

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 ...

surfaces: 5/23 is 5,000 by 100 feet (1,524 x 30 m) and 19/01 is 4,694 by 100 feet (1,431 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending December 11, 2009, the airport had over 49,000 aircraft operations, an average of 135 per day: 98%

, and 1%

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 121 aircraft based at this airport: 105 single-engine and 9 multi-engine

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurat ...

, 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 ...

, and 1

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 aile ...

Skydiving

This airport has a long history of

skydiving Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachut ...

, possibly the longest continuous history of skydiving at any U.S. airport. Skydive City, Inc., founded in 1990, operates a skydiving center, or drop zone, on the southeast side of the airport. The predecessor drop zone was Phoenix Parachute Center, operated by George Kabeller, just north of the current

drop zone A drop zone (DZ) is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes. In ...

. Prior to that, a drop zone was operated on the southwest side of the airport. Jim Hooper became the manager of Zephyrhills Parachute Center in December, 1976. Si Fraser owned the Zephyrhills Parachute Center. The drop zone was previously managed by Searles.

Skydiving accidents

On March 23, 2013, two skydivers at Skydive City, instructor, Orvar Arnarson, 41, and student Andrimar Pordarson, 25, were found dead after their reserve parachutes did not inflate completely before impact.

Accidents and incidents

* On April 20, 1993,

Douglas C-47B The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft A military transport aircraft, military cargo aircraft or airlifter is a military-owned transport aircraft used to su ...

N8056 of Phoenix Air was written off in a wheels-up landing at Zephyrhills following an engine failure while engaged in a parachuting flight based at the airport. An investigation by the

NTSB The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

found that the aircraft should have been able to climb on one engine. The pilot's type rating for the DC-3 was suspended following the accident with the requirement that he should pass a

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

proficiency check before it was restored. *On May 14, 2001, a Cessna 177 Cardinal lost engine power while enroute to Zephyrhills from Key West. The pilot was unable to regain power, and the aircraft impacted terrain one mile south of Zephyrhills. No fuel was recovered from the fuel system nor observed around the accident site, and the probable cause of the crash was found to be fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's failure to adequately plan for fuel preflight, leading to a subsequent loss of engine power. The pilot and three passengers received minor injuries. *On September 1, 2002 a Gruber Tiger crashed into a vacant house after takeoff from Zephyrhills. The two occupants were killed. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and witnesses say the pilot looked as if he was trying to circle to land back at the airport. *On August 28, 2007, an ultralight aircraft crashed after takeoff from Zephyrhills. Both on board died. *On October 15, 2018, a

Hummel Ultracruiser The Hummel Ultracruiser (also variously called the Ultra Cruiser and UltraCruiser) is an American amateur-built aircraft, designed by Morry Hummel and produced by Hummel Aviation. The aircraft is supplied as a kit or plans for amateur constr ...

crashed after takeoff from Zephyrhills due to engine power loss. The probable cause was found to be the pilot's failure to activate the plane's auxiliary fuel pump, resulting in fuel starvation and total loss of engine power. Contributing to the accident was the impairing effect of the pilot's medication on his performance. The sole pilot on board received serious injuries.

References

External links

Zephyrhills Municipal Airport
at City of Zephyrhills website
Aerial image as of May 2002
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 the Tampa Bay area Transportation buildings and structures in Pasco County, Florida Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Florida