Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Goderich Airport (CYGD) is a general aviation aerodrome on the shores of Lake Huron, a few minutes' drive north of the town of Goderich, Ontario. Formerly known as Sky Harbour Airport, it has a long aviation heritage stretching back to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of the Second World War, and today supports a lively local flying community alongside corporate, medevac and search-and-rescue traffic.
Goderich Airport, historically known as Sky Harbour Airport and now also styled Goderich Regional Airport, is a general aviation field owned and managed by the Town of Goderich. It sits close to the Lake Huron shoreline and the mouth of the Maitland River, just a short distance from the town centre. The field has deep roots in wartime pilot training and later became known internationally for its warbird and corporate aircraft paint shop, and it remains a base for a active general aviation community, making it an interesting and scenic destination for a simulator pilot exploring Ontario's west coast.
The aerodrome lies about 1.5 nautical miles north of the town of Goderich, Ontario, close to the shore of Lake Huron and the Maitland River. It is a registered aerodrome rather than a controlled airport, and traffic in the area is worked on an aerodrome traffic frequency rather than by a control tower. Overlying air traffic control services are provided by Toronto Centre.
Goderich has two paved, lit runways. The main runway, 14/32, is 5,004 feet long, giving it good capability for a wide range of general aviation and corporate aircraft. The secondary runway, 10/28, is shorter at 2,985 feet. Both are hard-surfaced and lit; there is no ILS at the field.
Traffic at Goderich self-announces on the aerodrome traffic frequency (ATF)/UNICOM at 122.7 MHz. Overlying en-route traffic is worked by Toronto Centre on 135.3 MHz. The Town of Goderich notes an NDB circling approach is available to the field, though no ILS is provided (goderich.ca).
As an uncontrolled aerodrome, pilots are expected to make position reports and coordinate circuit traffic themselves on the 122.7 MHz ATF/UNICOM frequency rather than through a control tower.
The airport is a readily identifiable feature from the air by its position hard against the shore of Lake Huron, with the Maitland River and its trail network just to the south leading into the town of Goderich. The town itself is distinctive from the air for its octagonal downtown layout, known locally as "The Square," radiating from Courthouse Park, which provides a useful landmark when inbound from the south.
Goderich "Sky Harbour" Airport opened on 30 July 1938. During the Second World War it served as No. 12 Elementary Flying Training School under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, operating from 1940 to 1944 and run by the Huron County Flying Training School Ltd., a civilian flying club, under agreement with the Canadian government. Keith "Hoppy" Hopkinson served as a flying instructor and later chief ground instructor at the school. After the war he founded Sky Harbour Air Services, which ferried more than 400 aircraft, and the airfield became a service and delivery point for Harvards. Hopkinson gained his operating licence in 1947 and purchased the airport outright in 1961, building it into a dealership for Cessna, Piper, Tiger Moth and Stinson aircraft with an aviation repair shop, flight training centre, and avionics and paint shop. He was fatally injured in an airplane crash on 27 March 1964. The airport was later bought by the Cruickshank family in the late 1960s, before the Town of Goderich purchased it in 1974 (excepting the paint shop and a building owned by Goderich Manufacturing) and upgraded it for licensed day and night operations. In the mid-1970s, Champion Road Machinery under Bruce Sully founded Business Air Services, a charter operation that grew to serve corporate, medevac and organ-transplant transport across North America. Through the late 1980s and 1990s, Sky Harbour Aircraft Refinishing became internationally renowned for repainting warbirds in authentic wartime colours, winning awards at Oshkosh, and also serviced corporate and private aircraft from across North America, at its peak employing more than 100 people. Flight training at the field was provided successively by Western Air Services and Goderich Flight Centre; the flight training centre closed in 2005 and the paint shop closed in 2009. The airfield also holds a notable place in skydiving history: in 1991 the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association recorded a 44-way freefall formation at Goderich, still recognised as the Canadian record as of mid-2024.
Goderich Airport remains a fair-sized general aviation facility with three runways in total, 17 hangar units, a terminal building and supporting infrastructure including a fuel farm, taxiways and ramp. The terminal is open from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily and offers a pilot lounge, passenger waiting area, WiFi, an executive lounge and an observation patio, along with courtesy bicycles. Aviation fuel, including 100LL and Jet A1, is available. More than 20 aircraft are based at the field, and it hosts an active COPA Flight 45 chapter running monthly meetings and fly-ins, as well as the Goderich Modelers radio-control flying club. Papple Aviation operates sightseeing, aerial photography and air taxi services from the airport, including flights to Toronto's Island Airport. The airport is a recognised Airport of Entry handling general aviation aircraft with up to 15 passengers and crew, so pilots arriving from outside Canada should arrange customs clearance in advance. Corporate jets, air ambulance flights, and OPP and Hydro One helicopters are frequent visitors alongside Search and Rescue Hercules aircraft.
