Colonel James Jabara Airport Explained

Colonel James Jabara Airport
Icao:KAAO
Faa:AAO
Type:Public
Owner:Wichita Airport Authority
Location:Wichita, Kansas
Elevation-F:1,421
Elevation-M:433
Coordinates:37.7475°N -97.2211°W
Pushpin Map:USA Kansas#USA
Pushpin Relief:yes
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of airport in Kansas
Pushpin Label:KAAO/AAO
Pushpin Label Position:right
R1-Number:18/36
R1-Length-F:6,101
R1-Length-M:1,860
R1-Surface:Concrete
H1-Number:H1
H1-Length-F:50
H1-Length-M:15
H1-Surface:Concrete
Stat1-Header:Aircraft operations (2019)
Stat1-Data:38,300
Stat2-Header:Based aircraft (2021)
Stat2-Data:113
Footnotes:Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Colonel James Jabara Airport is a public airport located 9miles northeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States. It is named in honor of World War II and Korean War flying ace James Jabara, an American of Lebanese descent who has the distinction of being the first American jet ace.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Colonel James Jabara Airport is assigned AAO by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA (which assigned AAO to Anaco Airport in Anaco, Venezuela).[2] [3] The airport's ICAO identifier is KAAO.

Facilities and aircraft

Colonel James Jabara Airport covers an area of 600acres which contains one runway.

For 12-month period ending August 13, 2019, the airport had 38,300 aircraft operations, an average of 104 per day: 97% general aviation and 3% air taxi. In November 2021, there were 113 aircraft based at this airport: 60 single-engine, 31 multi-engine, 20 jet aircraft, 1 helicopter and 1 military.

LifeSave Transport, A private medevac company owned by Air Methods, is based out of this airport. They operate a fixed wing and ground operations out of their building.

Colonel James Jabara Airport used to have a dedicated helipad, but it was closed and now has an X painted over the helipad.

Incidents

On November 20, 2013, at approximately 9:30 pm CST, a Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter (with registration N780BA and operated by Atlas Air) mistakenly landed at the Colonel James Jabara Airport, which was on the same heading as its destination, McConnell Air Force Base. After landing at McConnell, the plane was to taxi over to nearby Spirit AeroSystems, and pick up some fuselage parts for the assembly of Boeing 787 Dreamliners in Everett, Washington.[4] [5] [6] The plane successfully took off at 1:15 pm CST on November 21 and landed at nearby McConnell AFB.[7] The NTSB opened an investigation about the wrong landing.[8]

Nearby airports

Other airports in Wichita

Other airports in metro

Other airports in region

Notes and References

  1. , effective November 4, 2021
  2. Web site: Karl L.. Swartz. Great Circle Mapper: KAAO - Wichita, Kansas (Colonel James Jabara Airport). Great Circle Mapper. 2013-05-21.
  3. Web site: Karl L.. Swartz. Great Circle Mapper: AAO / SVAN - Anaco, Venezuela. Great Circle Mapper. 2013-05-21.
  4. Web site: Kansas: Plane left stranded after landing 'by mistake' . . 2013-11-21 . 2013-05-21.
  5. Web site: Jaime . Green . Video about Dreamlifter Landing At Jabara . . 2013-11-21 . 2013-05-21 . https://archive.today/20131121182612/http://www.kansas.com/2013/11/21/3132448/dreamlifter-lands-at-jabara.html . 2013-11-21 . dead.
  6. Web site: Audio of Dreamlifter crew in contact with McConnell AFB . . 2013-05-21.
  7. Web site: Rick . Plumlee . Molly . McMillin . Wayward Dreamlifter captivates the Air Capital . https://web.archive.org/web/20131219091921/https://www.kansas.com/2013/11/21/3132439/dreamlifter-lands-at-jabara-airport.html . 2013-12-19 . dead . . 2013-11-21 . 2013-05-21.
  8. Web site: NTSB opens investigation into Dreamlifter's wrong landing . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203003958/https://www.kansas.com/2013/11/22/3135294/ntsb-opens-investigation-into.html . 2013-12-03 . dead . . 2013-11-22 . 2013-05-21.