Northeast Alabama Regional Airport
Northeast Alabama Regional Airport (IATA Airport code GAD), formerly Gadsden Municipal Airport, is a public airport and general aviation facility owned and operated by the Gadsden Airport Authority. The airport is located on 1,480 acres at 185 Ira Gray Drive just southwest of Gadsden in Etowah County. Anthony Tarver succeeded Fred Sington Jr as the director of aviation and chair of the authority in 2023.
The airport houses 40 based aircraft (28 single-engine airplaines, 6 multi-engine planes, 2 jets, 2 gliders and 1 helicopter). It features two asphalt-paved runways: 6/24 is 6,802 by 150 feet and 18/36 is 4,806 by 150 feet. In 2019 the airport hosted 23,886 aircraft operations, an average 65 per day. Of those, 93% were general aviation, 5% were air taxi 2% were military.
The Gadsden Airport began commercial service with Southern Airways in 1949. Its successor, Republic Airways, ended service to Gadsden in 1981. Since then the airport was briefly served by Air New Orleans in the mid-1980s and Atlanta Southeast Airlines in the early 1990s.
In 2021 a proposal by Pilgrim's Pride to construct a rendering plant at the airport was rejected.
In 2023 the airport was awarded $1,238,022 in grants from the Federal Aviation Administration to repair and improve the main runway. Hi-Lite Airfield Services of Watertown, New York was awarded the contract for the work.
Incidents
On April 9, 1990, an Embraer EMB-120 operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines as a Delta Connection flight to Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport struck a Cessna 172 just after take-off. The Embraer was able to land safely with no injuries, but the Cessna was unable to regain control and crashed, killing both people on board. The cause of the crash was attributed to pilots of both aircraft inadequately performing a visual lookout in addition to restricted vision caused by glare from the sun.
References
- Thornton, Donna (December 31, 2021) "Pilgrim's Pride: No longer seeking rendering plant at Gadsden airport." Gadsden Times
- "Northeast Alabama Regional Airport" (July 26, 2022) Wikipedia - accessed July 18, 2023
- Thornton, William (July 14, 2023) "Gadsden Airport to improve runway with $1.3 million in grants." AL.com