Kirksville Regional Airport
IATA: IRK – ICAO: KIRK – FAA LID: IRK
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of Kirksville
Serves		Kirksville, Missouri
Location		Millard, Missouri
Elevation AMSL		966 ft / 294 m
Coordinates		40°05′37″N 092°32′42″W / 40.09361°N 92.545°W / 40.09361; -92.545
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
18/36	6,005	1,830	Concrete
9/27	1,393	425	Turf
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft operations			6,650
Based aircraft			41
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Kirksville Regional Airport (IATA: IRK, ICAO: KIRK, FAA LID: IRK) is a public airport located 6 nautical miles (11 km) southeast of the central business district of Kirksville, a city in Adair County, Missouri, United States. The airport is located in unincorporated Adair County and is owned by the City of Kirksville. It is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

Air Choice One began scheduled flight operations twice daily, to and from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport during July 2009. Scheduled operations are currently subsidized by the Essential Air Service Act. Previously service was operated by Air Midwest (operating as US Airways Express) to Kansas City International Airport and by RegionsAir (operating as American Connection) with flights to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

History

Aviation in the Kirksville area began in the Kirksville area within a few years of the Wright brothers historic flight. Local resident Nick Sparling is credited as being Adair County's first aviator, in 1909. In 1924, Roy B. "Cap" Dodson started the first airport in the area, located on the north edge of Kirksville. However, an airfield at the present location of Kirksville Regional Airport wasn't created until 1930 when the Federal Aviation Administration built a series of emergency landing strips across the nation. With America's entry into World War Two the Kirksville Municipal Airport, as it had been declared in the late 1930s, received an major upgrade from the Civilian Pilots Training Program and the US Army Air Corps War Training Service. In 1942 a paved all-weather landing strip, hangars, a control tower and small restaurant were constructed. A post-war boom in commercial aviation finally reached Kirksville in 1961 when Ozark Airlines began regular air service. The plane must have been a familiar sight to many area World War Two veterans, as Ozark used the venerable Douglas DC-3, the civilian counterpart to the famed C-47 'Gooney Bird', now decked out in Ozark's white and evergreen instead of Army Air Corps colors. The Ozark route began in Kansas City, Missouri with intermediate stops in Kirksville, Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Moline, Illinois, and terminated in Chicago. With the arrival of Ozark's DC-3's also came upgrades to the airport facilities. The original paved runway was rebuilt and lengthened to accommodate the larger aircraft, and a shorter, turf, runway was retained for the use of small private planes. Still more improvements came as result of a bond issue approved by Kirksville voters in 1967. A new six-thousand foot concrete runway was constructed, as well as a new terminal building and improved hangar facilities. The longer runway was necessary to accommodate Ozark Airlines switch from the DC-3 to a newer, faster Fairchild prop-jet with larger passenger capacity. It was also in the 1960s that Ozark Airlines switched Kirksville service from a Kansas City-Chicago route to a Des Moines-to-St. Louis one. With the airport improvements also came a new name, Clarence Cannon Memorial Airport—chosen to honor long-time US Congressman Clarence Cannon of Missouri who had done much to help secure air service and funding for the airport. Despite the nearly one million dollars in facility upgrades and a steady flow of passengers in and out of Kirksville, Ozark Airlines found the route to be financially untenable by the mid-1970s, with their final departure coming on April 23, 1976. Fortunately a local pilot and dentist, Dr. Steven Barber, has established a small commuter air service, Horizon Airways, in 1972. Horizon was able to help fill the void left by Ozarks departure, eventually expanding to five aircraft and service to both Kansas City and St. Louis.

Facilities and aircraft

Kirksville Regional Airport covers an area of 409 acres (166 ha) which contains two runways: 18/36 has concrete paved surface measuring 6,005 x 100 ft (1,830 x 30 m), and 9/27 has a turf surface measuring 1,393 x 100 ft (425 x 30 m)..For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2006, the airport had 8,350 aircraft operations, an average of 22 per day: 78% general aviation, 14% scheduled commercial, 6% air taxi and 2% military. There are 34 aircraft based at this airport: 97% single engine and 3% multi-engine.

Airlines and destinations

Incidents

• On October 19, 2004, Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashed on approach to Kirksville. Thirteen individuals died and two sustained injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board determined pilot error to be the cause of the accident.

• On May 12, 2005 a Midwest Airlines Boeing 717 made an emergency landing at Kirksville Regional Airport after experiencing severe turbulence while en route from Kansas City, Missouri to Washington, D.C. A safe landing was made, with all 76 passengers and 4 crew unharmed. To date this is the largest aircraft to ever land at Kirksville Regional.

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Location & QuickFacts

Owner & Manager

Airport Operations and Facilities

Airport Communications

Airport Services

Runway Information

Runway 09/27

Runway 18/36

Radio Navigation Aids

Images and information placed above are from
http://www.airport-data.com/airport/IRK/

We thank them for the data!

General Info
Country	United States
State	MISSOURI
FAA ID	IRK
Latitude	40-05-37.120N
Longitude	092-32-41.889W
Elevation	966 feet
Near City	KIRKSVILLE

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