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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Texel International Airport is a small grass airfield at De Cocksdorp on the northern tip of the island of Texel in the Netherlands, run as a friendly general aviation and skydiving base. With two grass runways and a customs facility despite its lack of scheduled international traffic, it is a popular VFR destination for private pilots visiting this North Sea island.
Texel International Airport (ICAO: EHTX) is a small, publicly operated airfield on the island of Texel, in the far north of the Netherlands. Despite its name it handles no scheduled international services and has no IATA code, but it does maintain a customs service for international general aviation flights. The field is used mainly by light piston aircraft, though turboprops such as the Fokker 50 and light jets like the Cessna Citation have also operated there, and it hosts a lit helicopter platform. Skydiving is one of the main activities on the airfield, and the island's popularity as a holiday destination draws a steady stream of private pilots. For simulator pilots, the combination of a coastal grass strip, a laid-back general aviation atmosphere and genuine historical interest makes Texel an engaging VFR destination.
The airfield lies at De Cocksdorp in the Eierland area, on the northern end of Texel island in the province of Noord-Holland, roughly 3.5 nautical miles north-northeast of Den Burg. It sits within Dutch airspace under the oversight of Dutch military information services, reflecting the island's proximity to other Dutch aviation and military activity in the northern Netherlands.
Texel has two physical grass runways. The longer runway, 03/21, is 3,981 ft in length, while the shorter runway, 12/30, measures 2,189 ft. Both runways have a grass surface, and there is no ILS approach available at the field.
Pilots can obtain flight information on FIS at 132.35 MHz (Dutch Military Info). Aerodrome information is provided by Texel Radio on 119.305 MHz, which serves as the airfield's information/advisory frequency. There is no ILS or other instrument approach at Texel, so arrivals and departures are flown visually.
The airfield opened in 1937 as Vliegpark de Vlijt, a joint military-civilian facility built as part of an employment scheme. KLM used the new field for tourist flights with the Fokker F.XXXVI, while the Dutch military based a number of aircraft there. At the outbreak of the Second World War the airfield was attacked by the German Luftwaffe, destroying ten of the twenty-five aircraft then based there, and six Fokker D.XVII trainers stationed at Texel were sent into action against the invading German forces, though the airfield itself played no significant role before the Dutch surrender. German forces subsequently occupied the island, expanded the airfield as Fliegerhorst Texel with concrete runways, taxiways and numerous bunkers, and used it until April 1943, when it was deliberately obstructed to deny its use to the Allies. The Royal Air Force attacked the airfield several times in 1940 without causing serious damage. After the war the site briefly served as a prison camp for collaborators, and the wartime concrete runways and taxiways were later removed; flying did not resume at the field until 1952. A memorial at the airport commemorates the crash of a Douglas DC-3 operated by the Dutch Dakota Association on 25 September 1996, which came down in shallow water near Den Oever after an engine failure during a flight from Texel to De Kooy airport at Den Helder, with the loss of all 32 people on board.
Texel International Airport today is a general aviation field with a strong recreational and sporting flying character, home to activities including skydiving and gliding. The site also houses an aviation and war museum documenting the island's flying history. The airfield is described as open daily from sunrise to sunset, and prior permission is understood to be required for visiting aircraft.
