Leesburg Airport Expansion

[bestmickey]

Leesburg's airport is receiving $4.5 million in stimulus money to expand their main runway by 1,300 feet. You can read the full story in the Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lake-county-airport-032709,0,7930056.story

Is Leesburg near The Villages, and will this extension mean that full service commercial jets (i.e., Southwest) will be able to utilize Leesburg if they so choose? More convenient for Villagers to fly into, but also possibly more noise impact for Villagers?

[Bryan]

Leesburg is fairly near TV. I haven't measured it exactly but I would guess it is 15 miles from SS Town Square to Leesburg Airport. Noise may be an issue but I would expect it to be a minor one at worse, and probably no issue at all. We seem to hear a lot more about train noise along the west border of TV than anything else.

[Cassie325]

It would be great if Airtran or Jetblue had service in there....however this will give a lot of people in the area some much needed employment!!! This is a good stimulis!

[Taltarzac]

I wonder where they are going to go with that extension? http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=13&x=263&y=1992&z=17&w=1

[spk7951]

I believe the longest runway at Leesburg is around 5,000 feet, so if they added 1,300 to that I am not sure if it would be enough to accommodate a large commercial jet. I seem to recall that the larger commercial jets needed at least 7,000 feet of runway but I am not positive. Anyone have a better idea of the runway requirements???

[Hawkwind]

I am not sure what the minimum requirements for commercial aircraft are but I live about 12 miles from Akron Canton airport (CAK). Their two runways are 7597 x 150 and 7601 x 150. You have 737-700's, A319's, and the regional jets flying in there daily. You even have a Boeing 747-300 (smallest 747 made) used by Ernest Angley Ministries going in and out of there all the time.

I personally watched a C5A take off from Akron Muni Airport and that runway is 6337 x 150. Awesome site.

Notice that both runways are 150 feet wide and that may make a difference because the ones at Leesberg are only 100 feet wide.

[Hancle704]

This will probably benefit TV developer If The Family is looking to acquire several more larger aircraft's for their travels.

[Don H]

From the photo looks like rwy 13/31 is the likely candidate for an extension on the southeast end. Also, that runway has gps approaches both directions.

[bestmickey]

Thanks for the info everyone. I now see the noise shouldn't be much of an issue. I live ~15 or 20 miles away from Albany International Airport, and the noise isn't much of an issue.

I'd sure like to see Southwest operate there. Would make it easy to fly back to visit family, once I'm in TV.

[GMONEY]

Leesburg's airport is receiving $4.5 million in stimulus money to expand their main runway by 1,300 feet. You can read the full story in the Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lake-county-airport-032709,0,7930056.story

Is Leesburg near The Villages, and will this extension mean that full service commercial jets (i.e., Southwest) will be able to utilize Leesburg if they so choose? More convenient for Villagers to fly into, but also possibly more noise impact for Villagers?

Trying to extend it for future traffic to land there. Possibly commercial. Has to be so long for ILS landings. St. Johns River Mgmt holding up process possibly. Not an issue for noise to The Villages. about 14 miles from here. The airport is on the east side of leesburg..

[Don H]

I don't think Leesburg has an ILS approach. I could be wrong. Looks like they have some gps approaches and some non-precision approaches. Anyway, it's not the length of the runway that dictates the various instrument approaches. The runway length will determine the size and weight of the aircraft that can land there, not to mention taking off again. Airlines are usually more stringent in what they are comfortable using. Leesburg could attract regional jet service though. Not sure about airline 737's on what would be a 6300 ft runway. ??? Takeoff performance may be an issue what with summer heat etc. Also, Leesburg will be hard pressed to compete pricewise with Orlando. We have a son who graduated from Riddle in Daytona Beach but never used airline service from there to New York since it was so much higher priced than Orlando.

[ldj1938]

When I had my plane at LEE I was told that "the family" was very interested in extending the runway so they could make a full fuel departure with their G3 and Falcon 500. Need the fuel load to fly to Europe and the west coast. They did have another Falcon on order instead of a G5 because the parts would be interchangeable with the three falcons. Getting a G3 or G5 out of LEE is no problem so I'm sure a regional airline could land here. There is a published GPS(RNAV) & NDB approach, but no ILS. http://www.airnav.com/airport/KLEE for further info.

[Don H]

Ha! Density altitude is a wonderful thing. ;)

[The Great Fumar]

Personally I think rwy 210 will be the logical choice as it favors the prevailing westerly winds and easier to extend to the southwest.....5000 ft is quite adequate for regional air service such as dc-9 types and 7-37's....but sounds like they are going to add ILS to a runway and 6300 ft would be very nice especially if they have only minimum overrun and it appears that may be the case......density altitude probably is not a big problem here because of the field elevation being close to sea level.......population here really doesn't support regional air service yet but it might be not to far away ......

Keep em flyin...

Fumar

[Don H]

I was thinking the other runway since it already had GPS apps both ways. Also, density altitute is not only a function of field elevation but also temperature. Hot July and August wx can add lots of "elevation" which reduces the "comfort" zone for departing jets. While 737's etc can depart from lots of places most airlines will "self-limit" their operating conditions favoring conservative numbers. Many airlines will simply not use non-precision apps for example.

All that aside, I'm not sure airline prices from LEE will be competative with MCO. MCO has such incredible economy of scale and frequency of flights available that it makes me wonder if LEE can compete.

[GMONEY]

was talking with a pilot that utilizes Leesburg airport. He said they want to utlilize ILS there and expand runways for future commercial traffic. But here is an article on Runways. click on this link, get the rest of the info on runways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runway

"Although runway length may be of some academic interest, in terms of usability for air carrier operations, a runway of at least 6,000 ft (1,829 m) in length is usually adequate for aircraft weights below approximately 200,000 pounds (90,718 kilogrammes). Larger aircraft including widebodies (Boeing 747, 767, 777, and 787; Airbus A300, A330, A340, A350, and A380; McDonnell Douglas DC-10 or MD-11; and the Lockheed L1011) will usually require at least 8,000 ft (2,438 m) at sea level and somewhat more at higher altitude airports. International widebody flights may also have landing requirements of 10,000 ft (3,048 m) or more and takeoff requirements of 13,000 ft (3,962 m)+.

At sea level, 10,000 ft (3,048 m) can be considered an adequate length to accommodate virtually any aircraft. For example, at O'Hare International Airport, when landing simultaneously on 22R and 27L or parallel 27R, it is routine for arrivals from the Far East which would normally be vectored for 22R (7,500 ft (2,286 m)) or 27R (8,000 ft (2,438 m)) to request 27L (10,000 ft (3,048 m)). It is always accommodated, although occasionally with a delay.

Any given aircraft will need a longer runway at a higher altitude due to decreased density of air at higher altitudes, which reduces lift and engine power. For example, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City is at sea level, while Denver International Airport is at an elevation of over 5,400 ft (1,646 m), so the same aircraft with an identical load will require a longer runway at Denver. An aircraft will also require a longer runway in hotter or more humid conditions (see density altitude). Most commercial aircraft carry manufacturer's tables showing the adjustments required for a given temperature".

[Don H]

Yup..all that is true. Simply put, if it's 87 degrees/f with dew pt at about 84 degrees, Leesburg Airport is now at just about 2400 ft.

But I still say it's gonna be a mite expensive to fly commercial out of there as compared to MCO. If you build it..will they come? :confused: Good place for corporate jets though. Although, I aways thought Orlando Executive was the place for them.

[Russ_Boston]

Who knew TOTV had good pilot talk:bowdown: