Chicago/Aurora Municipal Airport is a public airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 opened in April 1966, located in the village of Sugar Grove

Sugar Grove, Illinois

Sugar Grove is a far west suburban Chicago village in Kane County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,909 at the 2000 census. The population was 6,016 in the 2003 special census. The population was 7,958 in the 2005 special census...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, 8 miles (12.9 km) west of the city of Aurora

Aurora, Illinois

Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...

, both in Kane County

Kane County, Illinois

Kane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 515,269, which is an increase of 27.5% from 404,119 in 2000. Its county seat is Geneva, and its largest city is Aurora.- Geography :...

. The airport is owned and operated by the City of Aurora. It is 50 miles (80.5 km) west of Chicago and is designated as a reliever airport for Chicago's O'Hare

O'Hare International Airport

Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...

 and Midway airports. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier

Location identifier

A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for manned air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programming, weather reports, and related services.-ICAO...

 for both the FAA

Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 and IATA

International Air Transport Association

The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...

, Chicago/Aurora Municipal Airport is assigned ARR by the FAA and AUZ by the IATA (which assigned ARR to Alto Río Senguer

Alto Río Senguer

Alto Río Senguer is a town in Chubut Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Río Senguer Department. It was founded on September 1, 1943.-External links:...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

). The airport's ICAO

International Civil Aviation Organization

The International Civil Aviation Organization , pronounced , , is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...

 identifier is KARR.

Facilities and aircraft

Aurora Municipal Airport covers an area of 1100 acres (445.2 ha), which contains three runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

s:

• Runway 9/27: 6,501 x 100 ft (1,982 x 30 m), Surface: Concrete
• Runway 15/33: 5,503 x 100 ft (1,677 x 30 m), Surface: Concrete
• Runway 18/36: 3,198 x 75 ft (975 x 23 m), Surface: Asphalt

Current project planning

Project planning

Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment....

 calls for a parallel grass runway (9L/27R) during fiscal years 2010-2012. For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2007, the airport had 66,582 aircraft operations, an average of 182 per day: 98% general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

, 1% air taxi

Air taxi

An air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...

 and <1% military. There are 259 aircraft based at this airport: 75% single engine, 19% multi-engine, 6% jet aircraft and <1% helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

s. J.A. Air Center and Lumanair are the airport's two fixed base operator

Fixed base operator

A Fixed-base operator or commonly abbreviated FBO is a term developed in the United States after the passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926...

s (FBO).

Accidents

On June 13, 2011, the aircraft Liberty Belle, a B-17 Flying Fortress crashed in Oswego, Illinois

Oswego, Illinois

Oswego is a village in Kendall County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 30,355. Its population has more than doubled since the 2000 census count of 13,326...

after taking off from Aurora. Early reports indicate that shortly after takeoff the pilot reported an engine fire, and attempted to return to the airfield. He was unable to do so, however, and chose instead to put the aircraft down in a nearby cornfield with seven people on board, all of whom were reported to be safe.

Gallery

External links

• Official FAA airport diagram for KARR
• City of Aurora, Illinois
• J.A. Air Center, fixed base operator
• Lumanair Aviation Services, fixed base operator
• Gauntlet Warbirds, a warbird, aerobatic and tailwheel training center