Departure
95%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport lies six miles east of downtown Amarillo, Texas, and offers sim pilots one of the longest civilian runways in the United States alongside a full ILS approach. Named in 2003 for astronaut Rick Husband, a native of the city, the airport traces its roots to a series of earlier Amarillo airfields dating back to 1920 and has hosted major carriers including TWA, Braniff and American Airways over the decades.
Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport (KAMA) is a public, full-service airport six miles east of downtown Amarillo in Potter County, Texas, operated by the City of Amarillo's Department of Aviation. It was renamed in 2003 in honour of NASA astronaut and Amarillo native Rick Husband, commander of Space Shuttle Columbia's final mission, who died in the 2003 disaster. For a simulator pilot, the field is notable for its enormous main runway, its Class C airspace, and its long history as a stop for transcontinental airline traffic and even NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
KAMA sits within Class C airspace, with Fort Worth providing approach and departure control services to arriving and departing traffic. The airport is located in Potter County, six miles east of downtown Amarillo, Texas, and covers a large tract of the Texas Panhandle.
KAMA has two physical runways. The main runway, 04/22, is a hard-surfaced, lit strip 13,481 feet long and is equipped with an ILS. The crosswind runway, 13/31, is also hard-surfaced and lit, measuring 7,889 feet in length. Field elevation is 3,599 feet.
KAMA is a towered field. Tower operates on 118.3 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF; Ground is on 121.9 MHz. ATIS is broadcast on 118.85 MHz, and Clearance Delivery is available on 121.65 MHz. Approach and departure services are provided by Fort Worth on 121.15 MHz, with Fort Worth Radio available on 122.65 MHz. UNICOM is on 122.95 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 04/22.
As a Class C, tower-controlled airport, pilots should establish two-way radio contact with Amarillo Tower on 118.3 MHz before entering the airspace; if the tower is not in operation, 118.3 MHz also functions as the CTAF for self-announced traffic. Ground movements should be coordinated on 121.9 MHz and clearance obtained on 121.65 MHz where applicable.
The English Fieldhouse, a local restaurant adjacent to the general aviation terminal, commemorates the airport's original name, English Field, and can serve as a ground landmark near the GA ramp. A former aviation museum, once located within the airport, was relocated to buildings southeast of the main runway on the site known as Attebury Grain, providing another visual reference near the approach to the long runway.
Aviation at Amarillo dates to 27 April 1918, when two Army Signal Corps aircraft made the city's first recorded landing in a pasture near N. Polk Street. The Panhandle Air Service and Transportation Co. was formed in 1919 and based at Bivins Field from 1 January 1920, later renamed Bivins-English Field in 1928 under Harold English. The City of Amarillo opened a separate municipal airport, "Old Muny," on 29 May 1929, where Western Air Express began service witnessed by Charles Lindbergh; it closed in 1951. Bivins-English Field was relocated seven miles east of Amarillo in 1929 and renamed English Field, later becoming the site of today's airport after rebuilding with paved runways and taxiways between 1939 and 1943. Western Air Express, which became Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), used English Field as a stop on its coast-to-coast Los Angeles to New York City route from 1930, later joined by Southern Air Transport (merged into American Airways) and Braniff Airways. TWA operated Ford Trimotors, then Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s, and by 1950 was flying Lockheed Constellations through Amarillo; jet service with Boeing 707s, 727s and Convair 880s began in 1964, with TWA service ending in December 1982. The site also served as Amarillo Army Airfield and later Amarillo Air Force Base under Strategic Air Command and Air Training Command, in use from 1942 to 1946 and again from 1951 to 1968. In 2003 the terminal was rededicated to Rick Husband, and in 2009 the airport was used as a refuelling stop for NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft during the transport of Space Shuttle Discovery from Edwards Air Force Base to the Kennedy Space Center.
KAMA continues to operate as a full-service, towered airport managed by the City of Amarillo's Department of Aviation, handling both airline and general aviation traffic. A general aviation terminal remains in operation alongside the main passenger facilities, and the airport recorded around 39,781 aircraft operations with 45 based aircraft as of recent counts.
