Kempen Airport
Kempen Airport or Budel Airport (Dutch: Vliegveld Kempen), also just called Budel after the nearby town, is a general aviation airport in the south-east of the Netherlands located 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) west of Weert and near the border with Belgium. Its main runway, 03/21, is a 1,199 m (3,934 ft) long asphalt runway. There is a second runway for microlight aircraft only, located next to the main runway, and is 600 m (1,969 ft) long.
Kempen Airport Budel Aerodrome Vliegveld Kempen | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Budel Aerodrome b.v./ Kempen Airport | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Budel | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 114 ft / 35 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°15′16″N 005°36′03″E | ||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
The airport opened in 1970, initially only with a grass runway. An asphalt runway was created in 1991 of 930 m (3,051 ft), which was expanded later to its current length. Approach and runway lighting followed, making the airport suitable for IFR flights. With around 80,000 movements (a movement being a takeoff or landing) a year, it is amongst the largest general aviation airports in the Netherlands. International flights are allowed to and from the airport and it is used extensively by business aircraft, accounting for 80% of all aircraft movements.
Accidents
- On October 26, 2009, a Pilatus PC-12 on its way to Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport crashed in a field shortly after take-off from Kempen Airport; the two people on board died. An investigation was performed by the Dutch Safety Board however the cause of the accident was never conclusively determined.[2]
References
- EHBD – WEERT/Budel. AIP from AIS the Netherlands, effective 16 July 2020
- Dutch Safety Board (2012) - PH-RUL English Version 2 - Aircraft crashes shortly after take-off, report retrieved 7 November 2013.