Bridgeport Municipal Airport

Bridgeport Municipal Airport (ICAO: KXBP, FAA LID: XBP) is a public airport near Bridgeport, in Wise County, Texas. It is owned by the City of Bridgeport^[1] and is located 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) southwest of the central business district.^[2]

Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, but Bridgeport Municipal Airport is XBP (formerly 1F9) to the FAA and has no IATA code.^[3]

Facilities and aircraft

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Bridgeport Municipal Airport covers 206 acres (83 ha) and has one asphalt runway, 18/36, 5,005 x 75 ft (1,526 x 23 m).^[1]

In the year ending September 20, 2022, the airport had 22,400 aircraft operations, all general aviation. 30 aircraft were then based at the airport: 24 single engine, and 6 multi-engine.^[1]

Accidents and incidents

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16 July 2001: In a rare case of airplane theft, two men stole a Piper PA-28-180 from Parker County Airport near Weatherford, Texas, but crashed while attempting to land at Bridgeport Municipal Airport a short time later. Hudson Oaks police speculated that the men intended to refuel the aircraft in Bridgeport before flying it to Oklahoma.^[4] Neither of the thieves had ever held a pilot certificate, but the man who acted as pilot reportedly had 6 hours of prior flight time.^{[N 1]} The aircraft impacted the runway in a nose-down attitude and slid for a considerable distance; both men suffered serious injuries. No verifiable problems were found in the engine, airframe, or flight controls. The accident was attributed to "the non-certificated pilot's improper flare which resulted in a hard landing."^[5]

References

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Notes

^ The circumstances of the man's prior flight time are not made clear in the NTSB accident report, but it is likely that he had taken the controls while a certificated pilot was acting as pilot-in-command.