Easterwood Airport – Serving Aggieland And The Entire Brazos Valley

When Easterwood Field opened 70 years ago with a turf landing strip and one tiny hangar, not even the most optimistic visionary would have thought the airport could ever live up to its mission statement: “Providing a gateway to the world for the students, faculty and staff of Texas A&M University and to the citizens of the Brazos Valley.”

Many destinations in the world are now only one stop away from Bryan/College Station and the surrounding area, and hundreds more are only two stops via multiple daily flights to Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). That’s because of Easterwood – Easterwood Airport, as it is now called – the regional facility that is owned and operated by Texas A&M University but available for use by the general public.

That original turf landing strip that opened in 1940 has undergone numerous transformations, with Easterwood now boasting a 7,000-foot runway capable of accommodating almost any aircraft in the world. It also has two shorter 5,100-foot runways for use when crosswinds limit use of the longer strip.

Most Easterwood users and visitors only have contact with the airport through McKenzie Terminal, where the commercial flights arrive and depart, but there much more to the facility notes John H. Happ, Jr., who oversees operations at the 760-acre enterprise.

Major Activities Away From Main Terminal

The bulk of the daily activity is at the general aviation terminal, formerly the commercial terminal, on the east side of the airport – most readily recognizable by the three-story control tower operated by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). It is there that a host of corporate and private planes arrive and depart – in addition to numerous military aircraft. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps planes can often be spotted there while their crews – many of them Aggies – take a break while participating in training exercises. Also, Easterwood is frequently used for “touch and go” training, meaning the pilot lands and then takes off without ever coming to a complete halt. Helicopters, most of them military, also operate out of the southeast section of the airport.

The east side of Easterwood also includes the university’s hangar and aircraft operations, along with facilities for the Texas A&M Flying Club, the Texas A&M Flight Research Laboratory, a privately operated flying school and several hangars in which aircraft maintenance is performed.

A privately built hangar that is under a long-term lease agreement with the university is located on a southwest section of the airport and houses two corporate jets. In addition to using the jets for his own personal and business use, the planes’ owner leases them on occasion to upscale clientele. That area also serves FedEx’s daily flight operations.

An ever-increasing percentage of the planes using Easterwood are jets, with Happ estimating that the high-performance aircraft, including turbo-props, now account for more than half of aircraft operations.

Planning For Easterwood’s Future

Ever visionary, Happ and other Texas A&M officials are planning for the airport’s future development – looking out at least several decades and maybe even to the next 70 years. Happ says planning for the future is essential. That’s not only because the Bryan/College Station area is growing rapidly, but also because of the university’s expanding national and international initiatives, certainly including research activities, Happ points out, citing the area’s emergence as a biotechnology corridor as a prime example.

Happ, who oversees a staff of 23 full-time and 23 part-time employees, explains that Easterwood is operated as one of Texas A&M’s “auxiliary enterprises,” meaning it receives no state appropriations and must generate all of its own funding. In addition to receiving some financial support from the governmental entities of Bryan, College Station and Brazos County, most of its funding comes from such endeavors as the sale of aviation fuel and rental income. Additionally, promotional support has been provided by the Research Valley Partnership in recognition of the airport’s key role in attracting new businesses.

Easterwood serves approximately 10,000 passengers arriving or departing monthly on flights operated by American Eagle or Continental Connection. American Eagle flights are to and from DFW, and Continental Connection links to Bush.

Easterwood Users Include Students And Military

The general aviation terminal serves more than 300 transient aircraft each month, including military planes. That number can increase dramatically on short notice. For example, the entire fleet of training aircraft at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station was evacuated to Easterwood to void the Hurricane Alex threat recently. Likewise, private and commercial aircraft are on occasion diverted to Easterwood because of weather and, periodically, for other reasons.

About 50 privately owned planes are permanently based in the adjacent to the general aviation terminal.

Students, the first group mentioned in the airport’s mission statement, account for a deceptively large number of Easterwood users. In addition to individual students coming and going on personal and educational trips, student-athletes – Aggie teams and those from other Big 12 schools, among others – make major use of Easterwood, often flying in and out on chartered jets.

Some students even travel like VIPs. For example, on one occasion recently, a corporate-style plane – empty except for the crew – taxied to the general aviation terminal and, with both engines still running, lowered its cabin steps. A backpack-carrying young lady, obviously a student, leisurely boarded and the plane promptly taxied away for takeoff.

VIPs, Impressive Planes Among Easterwood Users

Over the years, the airport has served many dignitaries, including U.S. and foreign presidents, cabinet-rank officials, prime ministers, a least one king, top military officers and all of Texas’ recent governors.

Almost every type of aircraft built within the past 75 years has touched down and taken off at Easterwood, including an Airbus, a Boeing 757 and a Boeing 777. Military aircraft include Air Force One, F-16s, F-18s, C-130s, C-141s and C-17s. Photographs of many of those aircraft, including several that classify as vintage, can be viewed at http://www.easterwoodairport.com/photo5.html.

Happ has served as the university’s director of aviation for the past 10 years and has been associated with Easterwood since 1996, when he retired from the Air Force with the rank of colonel. He is a 1967 Texas A&M graduate. In addition to overseeing Easterwood operations, Happ has long been active in the Bryan/College Station community, having just recently completed service on the College Station City Council and continuing to be a local Boy Scout leader.

People Linked To Easterwood

The airport is named in honor of Jesse L. Easterwood, who attended Texas A&M before enlisting in the Naval Air Service in 1917 and becoming the second American to qualify as a naval aviation pilot. He flew for the British Royal Flying Corps in 1918 and conducted 16 raids behind German lines. He was killed in a plane crash in the Panama Canal Zone in 1919 and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his “distinguished and heroic service.”

The current commercial terminal, opened in 1990, is named in honor of the late William McKenzie, a former member, and subsequently chairman, of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Fellow regents honored McKenzie, a 1944 Texas A&M graduate, with the naming because of his long-standing and ardent support for the airport. He died earlier this year.

More information about the airport can be viewed at http://www.easterwoodairport.com/wwd.html.