Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Donaldson Field Airport (KGYH) is a public general-aviation and business airport at the former Donaldson Center Industrial Air Park, six miles south of downtown Greenville, South Carolina. Built as a World War II training base and later a Cold War-era Air Force base, it now serves general aviation, corporate flying, freight operations and a Lockheed Martin production facility alongside its two hard-surfaced, lit runways. Its long runway 05/23 with an ILS approach and generous crosswind runway 18/36 make it a capable field for a wide range of simulated traffic.
Donaldson Field Airport sits within the Donaldson Center Industrial Air Park at Greenville, South Carolina, on land owned by the City and County of Greenville. Once a US Air Force base, it is today a busy general-aviation and light-industrial aviation field, hosting corporate jets, freight operators, a Lockheed Martin production line, an aerospace MRO facility and a South Carolina Army National Guard helicopter unit. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix of a long ILS-served runway, a shorter crosswind strip, and a working military and industrial backdrop rather than a typical civil airfield feel.
Donaldson Field lies about six miles (9.7 km) south of the central business district of Greenville, South Carolina, within Greenville County, at the Donaldson Center Industrial Air Park. It sits within the wider Greenville area alongside Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. Approach and departure services in the vicinity are provided by Greer Approach/Departure, with Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center also noted as providing approach and departure coverage on separate frequencies when the airport's own approach control is closed.
Donaldson Field has two paved physical runways. Runway 05/23 is 7,995 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS approach serving runway 05. Runway 18/36 is 5,450 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, but without an instrument approach. Field elevation is 935 feet.
The published frequencies for Donaldson Field are: Air/Ground (A/D) 118.8 MHz, with Greer Approach/Departure handling the surrounding airspace; AWOS-3 automated weather on 127.325 MHz; clearance delivery on 121.4 MHz; ground on 121.4 MHz; and a tower frequency of 133.325 MHz, which is also used as CTAF/UNICOM. The 05/23 runway is served by an ILS approach.
The airfield began life as Greenville Army Air Base, opening in 1942 during the Second World War, and was later known as Greenville Air Force Base. In 1951 it was renamed Donaldson Air Force Base in honour of Captain John O. Donaldson, a First World War flying ace. The US Air Force announced the base's closure in 1962, and the City and County of Greenville took title to the facilities in 1964, renaming it Donaldson Center Industrial Air Park. On 16 December 1948, a USAF Fairchild C-82 Packet crashed five kilometres south of the then Greenville Air Force Base during a local flight, killing four of the seven people on board.
Donaldson Field today covers some 1,300 acres and handles a substantial volume of general aviation, air taxi and military traffic, with around 54,643 aircraft operations recorded in the twelve months to the end of 2022, an average of about 150 per day, split roughly 71 percent general aviation, 21 percent air taxi and 7 percent military. Some 54 aircraft are based at the field, including single and multi-engine types, jets, a helicopter, military aircraft and an ultralight. Vantage Aviation is the sole fixed-base operator, running two locations, Vantage North (general and executive aviation) and Vantage South (freight aviation), offering Jet A and 100LL avgas, hangars, tie-downs and related ground services. Lockheed Martin operates a large facility on the airport's southeast side, including F-16 Viper production for foreign sales, while Stevens Aerospace runs a maintenance, repair and overhaul station on the east side. The South Carolina Army National Guard's Bravo Company Det-1, flying CH-47 Chinook helicopters as part of the 2nd Battalion, 238th Aviation Regiment, is based on the northwest end of the field in a facility that opened on 19 February 2014.
