Colonel James Jabara Airport

Colonel James Jabara Airport (ICAO: KAAO, FAA LID: AAO) is a public airport located nine miles (14 km) northeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States.[1] It is named in honor of World War II and Korean War flying ace James Jabara, an American of Lebanese descent who has the distinction of being the first American jet ace.

Colonel James Jabara Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerWichita Airport Authority
LocationWichita, Kansas
Elevation AMSL1,421 ft / 433 m
Coordinates37°44′51″N 097°13′16″W
Map
AAO is located in Kansas
AAO
AAO
Location of airport in Kansas
AAO is located in the United States
AAO
AAO
AAO (the United States)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
18/36 6,101 1,860 Concrete
Helipads
Number Length Surface
ft m
H1 50 15 Concrete
Statistics
Aircraft operations (2019)38,300
Based aircraft (2021)113

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Colonel James Jabara Airport is assigned AAO by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA (which assigned AAO to Anaco Airport in Anaco, Venezuela).[2][3]

Facilities and aircraft

Colonel James Jabara Airport covers an area of 600 acres (243 ha) which contains one runway.

  • Runway 18/36: 6,101 ft × 100 ft (1,860 m × 30 m), surface: concrete

For 12-month period ending August 13, 2019, the airport had 38,300 aircraft operations, an average of 104 per day: 97% general aviation and 3% air taxi. In November 2021, there were 113 aircraft based at this airport: 60 single-engine, 31 multi-engine, 20 jet aircraft, 1 helicopter and 1 military.[1]

LifeSave Transport, A private medevac company owned by Air Methods, is based out of this airport. They operate a fixed wing and ground operations out of their building.

Colonel James Jabara Airport used to have a dedicated helipad, but it was closed and now has an X painted over the helipad.

Incidents

On November 20, 2013, at approximately 9:30 pm CST, a Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter with registration N780BA and operated by Atlas Air, mistakenly landed at the Colonel James Jabara Airport, which was on the same heading as its destination, McConnell Air Force Base. After landing at McConnell, the plane was to taxi over to nearby Spirit AeroSystems, and pick up some fuselage parts for the assembly of Boeing 787 Dreamliners in Everett, Washington.[4][5][6] The plane successfully took off at 1:15 pm CST on November 21 and landed at nearby McConnell AFB.[7] The NTSB opened an investigation about the wrong landing.[8]

Nearby airports

References
  1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for AAO PDF, effective November 4, 2021
  2. Swartz, Karl L. "Great Circle Mapper: KAAO - Wichita, Kansas (Colonel James Jabara Airport)". Great Circle Mapper. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  3. Swartz, Karl L. "Great Circle Mapper: AAO / SVAN - Anaco, Venezuela". Great Circle Mapper. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  4. "Kansas: Plane left stranded after landing 'by mistake'". BBC News Online. 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  5. Green, Jaime (2013-11-21). "Video about Dreamlifter Landing At Jabara". The Wichita Eagle. Archived from the original on 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  6. "Audio of Dreamlifter crew in contact with McConnell AFB". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  7. Plumlee, Rick; McMillin, Molly (2013-11-21). "Wayward Dreamlifter captivates the Air Capital". The Wichita Eagle. Archived from the original on 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  8. "NTSB opens investigation into Dreamlifter's wrong landing". The Wichita Eagle. 2013-11-22. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
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