Suburban Airport
Encyclopedia
Suburban Airport is a public-use 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 Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Anne Arundel County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is named for Anne Arundell , a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England and the wife of Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state...

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

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

, two miles (3 km) southeast of the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of Laurel
Laurel, Maryland
Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...

. This airport is privately owned by Suburban Air Park LLC.

Facilities and aircraft

Suburban Airport covers an area of 52 acres (21 ha) which contains one paved 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...

 (3/21) measuring 2324 by 40 ft (708.4 by 12.2 m).

For 12-month period ending April 24, 2007, the airport had 20,400 aircraft operations, an average of 55 per day, 100% of which were 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...

. There are 66 aircraft based at this airport, including 65 single engine airplanes and 1 helicopter. A combination of grass, paved-pad, ramp, owner-maintained fabric hangars, and steel hangars are available for aircraft to base from. The airport hosts homebuilt experimental aircraft, and has been the primary construction site of several aircraft past and present.

History

Suburban airport lies on ground once owned by the Snowden Family
Richard Snowden
Richard Snowden is the grandson of Richard Snowden Sr , one of Maryland's early colonists, who arrived in 1658. Richard founded the Patuxent Iron Works, on the site of Maryland's oldest iron forge...

. The family manor "Birmingham" was built in 1690, and sat adjacent to the runway on what is now the Northbound lanes of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway. The Snowden family cemetery sits just to the east of the runway, within the traffic pattern. This historic location was the home of the first Iron production in Maryland, Patuxent Iron Works. Just to the west of the airport is a later Snowden family manor, Montpelier.

Suburban Airport opened in March 1960 as a family run airport and fixed base operation. The first aircraft flown into the field was a Erco Ercoupe By 1963 the operations building and maintenace hangar were complete and there were 33 aircraft based on the field.
The airport hosts meetings of the Experimental Aircraft Association
Experimental Aircraft Association
The Experimental Aircraft Association is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Since its inception it has grown internationally with over 160,000 members and about 1,000 chapters worldwide....

 and aviation oriented youth education programs such as Young Eagles
Young Eagles
Young Eagles is a program created by the US Experimental Aircraft Association designed to give children between the ages of 8 to 17 an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane while educating children about aviation. This program is offered free of charge with donations and...

 flights.

The airport has been a Piper Aircraft dealer.

In 2001 Suburban Airport was closed for operations by the September 11 attacks. Aircraft had limited access to leave, then eventually arrivals and departures were granted under the flight rules of the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone.

Suburban airport is currently owned by W18 LLC, an entity co-located with Bay Area Land Development and Polm Housing. The airport property is in a region affected by Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure is a process of the United States federal government directed at the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, used by the United States Department of Defense and Congress to close excess military installations and realign the total asset inventory to reduce...

 and gambling legislation at the nearby Laurel Park Racecourse. In 2004 Polm attempted to increase the zoning of the airport property from 21 allowable housing units to 641 units for a development called Riverwood. Polm publicly announced plans prior to the hearing to expand Suburban airport to support 300 aircraft, 100 hangars, helicopter charters, and operate a flight school if the increased zoning failed. 250 people attented the zoning hearing where the Riverwood zoning attempt did not pass. The same hearing passed zoning changes for the Polm development Fieldstone on the same road. In 2009 Polm offered to build a 715 seat privately run school if Riverwood zoning is approved.
In 2010 The Maryland Aviation Administration
Maryland Aviation Administration
The Maryland Aviation Administration is a state agency of Maryland and an airport authority under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The agency controls Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Martin State Airport...

 changed the criteria for minimum approach angles and marked the airport with new displaced thresholds. The thresholds shortened 1/3 of the runway for landing operations both ways on the 2,300-foot runway. Organizations that provided aircraft for Young Eagles
Young Eagles
Young Eagles is a program created by the US Experimental Aircraft Association designed to give children between the ages of 8 to 17 an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane while educating children about aviation. This program is offered free of charge with donations and...

flights have needed to relocate because the available runway was reduced beyond safe operating limits of their aircraft.
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