Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport Explained

Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport
Iata:YRO
Icao:CYRO
Type:Public
Operator:Rockcliffe Flying Club
Location:Ottawa, Ontario
Timezone:EST
Summer:EDT
Elevation-F:184
Coordinates:45.4606°N -75.6433°W
Pushpin Map:Canada Ottawa#Canada
Pushpin Label:CYRO
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Ontario
Website:Rockcliffe Flying Club
R1-Number:09/27
R1-Length-F:3,319
R1-Surface:Asphalt
Footnotes:Source: Canada Flight Supplement

Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport or Rockcliffe Airport, a former military base, is a non-towered airport located on the south shore of the Ottawa River, 4NM northeast of Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The airport is the home of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, which owns the field, and is used and maintained by the Rockcliffe Flying Club.

History

See main article: CFB Rockcliffe.

The airport land was originally a military rifle range. In 1918, the Royal Air Force began using the field behind the range for experimental mail flights, and the airport opened officially in 1920 as the Ottawa Air Station, one of the six original airfields opened across Canada by the new Air Board. Since it is on the shore of the Ottawa river and the runways were connected to the riverfront by a road, it was one of very few airports capable of handling and transferring floatplanes on both land and water. On March 12, 1930, Canadian World War I flying ace William George Barker crashed into the Ottawa River and died during an aerial demonstration over the field. In July 1931, Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh visited the airport during their northern surveying tour. During World War II. Rockcliffe participated in the British Commonwealth Air Training Program and many other kinds of testing, training, and transport operations, including flying overseas mail to troops in Europe.

The military importance of the airport declined after World War II, since the runways were too short for typical jet operations. The armed forces shifted most operations to RCAF Station Uplands (now Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport) in 1957, and ceased flying operations at Rockcliffe in 1964, retaining the station only as an administrative base, while the Rockcliffe Flying Club began using the field for civilian flying.

During the 1970s, the airport was also used for scheduled short takeoff and landing (STOL) commercial flights to the short-lived Victoria STOLport near downtown Montreal.[1] The objective was to demonstrate Twin Otter STOL aircraft in downtown areas and avoid longer drives to the Ottawa and Montreal airports. For a variety of reasons STOL operations in downtown settings have not proven successful.

The military left the airport completely in 1994, but their aircraft collection remained to form the nucleus of the Canada Aviation Museum. Only one of the former triangle of runways remains active. Runways 04/22 and 15/33 were closed along with most taxiways now servicing the aviation museum.

Tenants

Current tenants of the airport:

Former tenants:

Transportation to airport

By car, the airport can be reached by Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway.

By transit, OC Transpo Route 25 occasionally provides direct access to the airport. Route 7 is a short walk from the airport.[3] [4]

Incidents

See also

References

  1. News: The Airtransit operation . 28 November 1974 . FLIGHT International. www.flightglobal.com. 2009-01-05.
  2. Web site: twin otters air centre british airways 1974 1919 Flight Archive . www.flightglobal.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110521184214/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201919.html . 2011-05-21.
  3. Web site: Visitor Information | Canada Aviation and Space Museum.
  4. Web site: Schedules & Maps OC Transpo. www.octranspo.com. 2019-11-07.
  5. Laurence A. Steinhardt, Canada, 1950 | Before Libya: U.S. Ambassadors Who Have Died in the Line of Duty. Time. 12 September 2012. Carbone. Nick.
  6. News: Man charged after plane stolen, crashed at Rockcliffe airport . 16 September 2023.

External links