Republic Airport

January 9, 2015

Republic Airport is located in Farmingdale, Long Island. I fly from here because it is less than a one-hour drive from my home in Manhattan, and it is the home of Ventura Flight Training. Republic is designated Class Delta controlled air space; nearby JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports are all Class Bravo airspace, reserved for the busiest airports in the country.  (There are very important technical differences among the various classes of airspace; a summary can be found here.) Many general aviation aircraft and corporate jets are based at Republic.

Republic Airport was first developed by Sherman Fairchild in 1927 as an aircraft manufacturing plant. It was a very productive facility through World War II, when 9,000 P-47 Thunderbolts were built there. In 1969, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York bought the field, which by then had been converted into a general aviation airport. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, many regional airlines operated from Republic. The main terminal building, which is located behind the control tower, has a big photo exhibit showcasing the history of the airport. These days, sadly, the airlines fly out of JFK, LaGuardia and MacArthur Airport (Islip), so the terminal at Republic is very quiet. (Fun Fact: Most NHL teams fly into Republic Airport when they come to play the New York Islanders.)

Republic has two runways – 14-32 and 1-19. Ventura Flight Training is located on the south side of the airport. Ventura is well-known by the air traffic controllers at Republic, who are very patient with student pilots; the tower actually refers to Ventura’s planes as “Ventura 5″ or “Ventura 6″ etc. instead of using official tail numbers. Ventura was started in 1955 and offers flight training, aircraft charter, and aircraft rental. Its training and rental fleet has six Piper aircraft (five Warriors and an Archer) and a Mooney M20J. Ventura prides itself on having a perfect safety record. I love the combination of Ventura and Republic because it makes for a place that is busy enough to be interesting, but not so busy that it’s too challenging.

Once in a while, my instructor and I fly to other nearby airports like Bridgeport (CT), Brookhaven (NY) and MacArthur (NY). Bridgeport is under Class Delta airspace just like Republic. Brookhaven is uncontrolled and planes can land and take off at their discretion. MacArthur is under Class Charlie airspace, which means you have to contact an approach controller and then the tower controller as you enter. Touch-and-gos at MacArthur are interesting because there is quite a bit of commercial traffic in the mix, including 737’s operated by Southwest Airlines.

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Republic Airport will always be a special place to me because it was where I had my first flying lessons. I have gotten to know it really well and I am totally comfortable with the surrounding area and the way the airport works.

– Garrett C.