Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Westchester County Airport (KHPN) lies three nautical miles northeast of downtown White Plains, New York, beneath the New York Class B shelf and within easy reach of the congested New York City terminal airspace. A county-owned field with two paved, lit runways and a full ILS, it hosts everything from airline jets and business aviation to a busy medevac operation and several flight schools, making it a useful but demanding destination for the VFR pilot.
Westchester County Airport, identified as KHPN and also known locally as White Plains Airport, is a county-owned field serving the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and the wider New York metropolitan area. It sits beneath the New York Class Bravo airspace and about twenty miles northeast of LaGuardia, making it a popular alternative for pilots wishing to avoid the more heavily congested and restrictive airspace around the city's main airports. The traffic mix at HPN includes air carriers, business jets, general aviation and a robust medevac operation, and with numerous flight schools based on the field it presents a genuinely varied and, at times, complex environment for both pilots and controllers.
The airport lies three nautical miles northeast of downtown White Plains, New York, with its grounds spread across the towns of North Castle and Harrison and the village of Rye Brook; the New York-Connecticut state line runs along its eastern perimeter. It is located beneath the New York Class Bravo airspace, roughly twenty miles northeast of LaGuardia Airport, and is considered a satellite or reliever field for the New York metropolitan area, offering an alternative to the busier and more restrictive airspace closer to the city's principal airports.
Westchester County Airport has two physical runways. Runway 16/34 is 6,541 feet long, hard-surfaced, lit, and equipped with an ILS on both the field's main instrument approach. Runway 11/29 is the crosswind runway, also hard-surfaced and lit; published lengths differ between the two ends, with runway 11 listed at 4,443 feet and runway 29 at 3,150 feet. Field elevation is 400 feet.
HPN is a fully controlled field. New York Approach and Departure work traffic on 120.8 MHz and 120.55 MHz respectively, with the tower and common traffic advisory frequency shared on 118.575 MHz. Ground control operates on 121.825 MHz, ATIS is broadcast on 133.8 MHz, clearance delivery is on 127.25 MHz, and Unicom is available on 122.95 MHz. The field is equipped with an instrument landing system serving runway 16/34.
Westchester County Airport was built during the Second World War, opening in 1942 as the home of an Air National Guard unit tasked with protecting New York City and the Rye Lake reservoir, part of the city's water supply. In May 1983, as suburban Westchester grew and the Guard's role shifted from air defence to cargo operations, the unit relocated from Westchester Air National Guard Base to Stewart International Airport in Orange County. Scheduled airline service began in late 1949 with an American Airlines weekday flight linking LaGuardia, HPN and Syracuse; Mohawk Airlines took over the route in 1955 and, together with successor Allegheny Airlines, served the field until 1979. The airport's first scheduled jet service came in 1965 with a Mohawk BAC One-Eleven, and by 1967 Mohawk was flying nonstop jet services to Rochester and Newark as well as one-stop flights to Buffalo and from Toronto. A succession of major and regional carriers, including Air Florida, United Airlines, USAir, American Airlines, AirTran and Independence Air, have served HPN over the decades, with JetBlue beginning operations in 2007. In June 2005 a stolen Cessna 172, taken from nearby Danbury Municipal Airport by a drunken teenager and two companions, landed on a taxiway at HPN in the small hours while the airport was closed and its runway lighting off, leading to the arrest of all three occupants.
HPN remains a medium-sized, multi-use airport handling a mix of airline, business jet, general aviation and medevac traffic, and its position beneath New York's Class Bravo airspace makes it an attractive alternative to the more congested airports closer to the city. Numerous flight schools are based on the field, contributing to a diverse mix of pilot experience and aircraft types that, together with the traffic complexity, makes HPN a demanding airport for both pilots and controllers. The airport is subject to landing-rights restrictions, and pilots should establish that prior permission has been obtained before planning a visit.
