Airport Magazine - February/March 2017

ST. CHARLES COUNTY’S SMARTT
FIELD AIRPORT BRANCHING OUT WITH
SERVICES, EVENTS

Smartt Field Airport, located in northeast St. Charles County, Missouri, has come a long way since it first opened in 1942 as a Naval training facility.

The airport is home to more than 150 private planes and three fixed base operators (FBOs): St. Charles Flying Service, Skylink Aviation and the Commemorative Air Force (CAF)–Missouri Wing. Other tenants include the Experimental Aircraft Association, Spirit of St. Louis Chapter

32, and Ozark Airlines Silver Swallows Alumni Association. A locally based, national aerospace company also is a tenant at Smartt Field.

While the airport has existed for nearly 75 years, many residents — especially those relatively new to the county — are not aware the airport exists. Airport staff began thinking “outside the box” to come up with non-traditional activities and events that would introduce non-aviation members of the public to the airport and educate them on what the facility has to offer.

Ideas generated by airport staff that have increased the visibility of the airport to the neighboring public include:

UTOFTHE BOX BY DENNIS WISS, A.A.E.

OPEN HOUSE AND PUMPKIN DROP

For the past three years, the county has hosted an Open House and Pumpkin Drop to kick off the fall season. On-site FBOs participate and offer visitors an opportunity to tour the facility, view CAF aircraft, civilian and military aircraft, and take plane rides. Those joining in the Pumpkin Drop are challenged to throw a pumpkin from a plane and hit a ground target. In 2016, nearly 500 attended this event, and it continues to grow each year.

NOT JUST A TYPICAL SMALL AIRPORT

The airport’s Ozark Room, named after the airline that was headquartered in St. Louis from 1950 to 1986, has a patio and barbecue area with views of the Grafton Bluffs on the Mississippi River, as well as the runways and airport activities. The venue is rented for weddings, receptions and other events.