Los Alamos Airport , also known as Los Alamos County Airport, is a public 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...

 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...

 located in Los Alamos

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, USA

United States

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

. It was built in 1947 by the Atomic Energy Commission

United States Atomic Energy Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...

 as part of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, but the laboratory transferred the facility to county ownership in 1963.

Facilities

Los Alamos Airport covers 87 acre

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

s and has one 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...

:

• Runway 9/27: 5,550 x 113 ft (1,692 x 34 m), Surface: Asphalt

Operations

As of 2008, there were 62 aircraft based at the field, all but two of which were single-engine airplanes. The airfield sees an average of 36 operations per day.

Because of the restricted airspace immediately to the south of the runway, and the noise-sensitive residential area just west of the runway, Los Alamos Airport employs a non-standard traffic pattern. All takeoffs, regardless of wind conditions, are to the east on runway 9. All landings, regardless of wind, are to the west on runway 27. Unlike many airports, the orientation of the runway at Los Alamos was chosen due to geographic necessity rather than preferential wind alignment. Pilots will frequently encounter a gusty crosswind at this airfield, particularly in spring. This fact, combined with the rugged terrain off the east end of the runway, has given LAM a reputation for being a challenging airport to land at.

Services

Los Alamos Airport has numerous services available for local and visiting pilots:

• A flight planning room, open 24 hours a day to pilots, includes an internet-connected computer, printer, fax machine, and free WiFi connectivity.
• Bathroom open 24 hours a day to pilots
• Self-serve 100LL fuel available 24 hours a day
• On-field major airframe and powerplant repair
• Courtesy car
• Aircraft rentals
• Car rentals
• Nearby bus stop