Roscommon County–Blodgett Memorial Airport is a county-owned public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located five miles (8 km) northeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center 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 wit ...

of Houghton Lake, an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Roscommon County,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is included in the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a local

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

facility. It was known as Roscommon County Airport until 2005, when it was named to honor Terry Blodgett, the airport's manager from 1987 until his death in 2004, and his father Francis Blodgett, airport manager from 1959 to 1981. The airport is home to a chapter of the

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 300,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapters worldwide. ...

, which hosts regular events such as

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

Egg Drops and fly-in breakfasts with model planes, the opportunity to interact with personal planes, and free flights. The airport is also home to regular veteran's appreciation events, where

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

s are welcome to enjoy warm drinks and refreshments.

Facilities and aircraft

Roscommon County–Blodgett Memorial Airport covers an area of which contains two

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 9/27 with a 4,000 x 75 ft (1,219 x 23 m)

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

pavement and 18/36 with a 2,200 x 100 ft (671 x 30 m)

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

surface. The airport has a fixed-base operator that sells fuel and offers a lounge, rest rooms, and other amenities. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 12,900 aircraft operations, all

, an average of 35 per day. There was at that time 21 aircraft based on the field, all single-engine

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), 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 vari ...

s. The airport is staffed daily from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. It is accessible by road from County Road 100, and is close to M-18, M-157, and U.S. Highway 127.

Accidents and incidents

*On April 14, 2016, an aircraft made an emergency landing at Blodgett Memorial Airport after a goose impacted and broke the airplane's windshield. The bird flew all the way into the aircraft's baggage compartment, and the pilot flew for 20 minutes before making a safe landing.

References

External links

* Airports in Michigan Buildings and structures in Roscommon County, Michigan Transportation in Roscommon County, Michigan {{Michigan-airport-stub

Facilities and aircraft

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

External links