The airport hosts regular events, such as fly-in breakfasts and July 4th celebrations.[1][2] The annual July 4th event includes historic planes, military aircraft, helicopters, and more. Plane rides are offered for purchase, and rides in vintage airplanes are auctioned.[3]
History
Williams County Airport was built in 1964 when Governor Jim Rhodes declared that every county in Ohio should have an airport. Land for the airport was donated by Richard Schreder who also volunteered as the airport manager for decades.[4] The airport has grown to accommodate private aircraft and small jets, and it has received commercial freight traffic in its past.[5]
In 2021, the airport received $32,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide economic relief funds for costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, debt service payments, and combating the spread of pathogens at Williams County Airport.[6][7]
Facilities and aircraft
The airport has one runway, designated as runway 7/25. The runway measures 4,782 x 75 ft (1,458 x 23 m) and is paved with asphalt.
For the 12-month period ending August 7, 2020, the aircraft had 8030 annual flight operations, an average of 22 per day. This was nearly 100% general aviation and <1% military. For the same time period, 21 aircraft were based at the airport: 20 single-engine airplanes and 1 jet airplane.[8][9][10]
The aircraft has a fixed-base operator that sells fuel, both avgas and jet fuel. Limited services, including catering, a lounge, and courtesy transportation, are available.[11][12]
Accidents and incidents
On July 18, 2008, an Eagle Aircraft Co DW-1agricultural aircraft crashed near the Williams County Airport. The pilot said that the airplane's fuel gauge was stuck and he thought that he had 30 minutes of fuel remaining, but the engine quit near the grass field where he wanted to land. The pilot then executed a forced landing to a field and nosed over. Upon inspection, no fuel was found in the fuel tanks. The probable cause of the accident was found to be a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's improper fuel calculations. A contributing factor was the inaccurate fuel gauge.[13]
On August 12, 2020, a Cirrus SR22 was damaged when it struck a parked construction vehicle while taxiing at the Williams County Airport.[14]
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