Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport

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Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport - Wikipedia

Coordinates: 26°09′58″N 097°20′45″W / 26.16611°N 97.34583°W

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport

Original control tower and hangar

IATA: none
ICAO: KPIL
FAA LID: PIL

Summary

Airport type

Public

Owner

Cameron County

Serves

Port Isabel, Texas

Location

27617 Buena Vista Blvd, Los Fresnos, TX 78566^[1]

Elevation AMSL

18.6 ft / 5.7 m

Coordinates

26°09′58″N 097°20′45″W / 26.16611°N 97.34583°W

Map

PIL

Location of airport in Texas

Runways

Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
03/21	5,000	1,524	Asphalt/concrete
08/26	5,317	1,621	Concrete
13/31	8,001	2,439	Asphalt/concrete
17/35	4,200	1,280	Asphalt/concrete

Statistics (2017)

Aircraft operations	29,420
Based aircraft	13

Sources: Federal Aviation Administration^[2] unless noted otherwise

Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport (ICAO: KPIL, FAA LID: PIL) is a public airport in Cameron County, Texas, United States, serving the city of Port Isabel, Texas.^[2]^[3] Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, but Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport is assigned PIL by the FAA and has no IATA designation.^[4] IATA assigned PIL to Carlos Miguel Jiménez Airport in Pilar, Paraguay.^[5]

The Port Isabel Detention Center, operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is located adjacent to the airport.^[6]

The airport previously used the FAA LID of T31 until at least July 1992.^{[N 1]} This designation was subsequently reassigned to Aero Country Airport in McKinney, Texas.^[8]

History

The airfield was built by the U.S. military in the 1940s and used by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy for gunnery training. The base was closed in the early 1960s and most base facilities were turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 1961-1963 for renovation and reuse as a detention facility. The hangars and runways were turned over to the Cameron County Commissioners in 1963 to be used as a civil airport.^[6]

Facilities

Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport covers 826 acres (334 ha) at an elevation of 18.6 feet (5.7 m) above mean sea level. It has four runways:

Runway 03/21: 5,000 x 150 ft. (1,524 x 46 m), surface: asphalt/concrete
Runway 08/26: 5,317 x 150 ft. (1,621 x 46 m), surface: concrete
Runway 13/31: 8,001 x 200 ft. (2,439 x 61 m), surface: asphalt/concrete
Runway 17/35: 4,200 x 75 ft. (1,280 x 23 m), surface: asphalt/concrete^[2]

For the 12-month period ending 11 January 2017, the airport had 29,420 aircraft operations, an average of 81 per day: 54% military, 46% general aviation, and less than 1% air taxi. At that time there were 13 aircraft based at this airport: 46% single-engine, 46% multi-engine, and 8% gliders, with no jets nor helicopters.^[2]

References

Notes

^ It is unclear exactly when the designation changes took place. A National Transportation Safety Board report for an accident at Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport on 3 July 1992 uses the T31 designation.^[7]