De Kooy
Encyclopedia
De Kooy Airfield is an airfield 2.9 NM south of Den Helder
Den Helder
Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula...

, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, named after the nearby hamlet De Kooy
De Kooy (hamlet)
De Kooy is a hamlet in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Den Helder, and lies about southeast of the Den Helder city centre.The hamlet is known for the nearby naval air field De Kooy....

. It serves as both a civilian airport under the name Den Helder Airport and a naval airport under the name Maritiem Vliegkamp De Kooy (Dutch for Maritime Aviation Site De Kooy).

Most movements on the De Kooy are made by 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, bringing workers to and from offshore oilrigs and naval helicopters such as the Westland Lynx
Westland Lynx
The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to the development of both battlefield and naval variants...

 of the Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy
The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

. But fixed-wing aircraft visit and operate from the airport as well. Skyline Aviation operates from De Kooy, who mainly operate business aircraft but also do airwork such as aerial photography
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...

 for both civilian and military contractors. Amongst their fleet of aircraft most noticeable are several Aero L-39 Albatros jets
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...

.

Future

The oil fields in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 will eventually be depleted and when that happens the airport would lose most of its helicopter movements and thus alternative markets are being looked at, such as business and holiday flights. At the moment there are no scheduled flights from De Kooy. The navy may move its helicopter operations from De Kooy to Gilze-Rijen Air Base
Gilze-Rijen Air Base
Gilze-Rijen Air Base is a military airbase in the Netherlands located between the cities of Breda and Tilburg, in the Noord-Brabant province. It is mainly, but not exclusively used as a base for attack helicopters. The airfield has two runways, the longest, complete with instrument landing...

.

External links

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