Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Rickenbacker International Airport is a joint civil-military airfield some 10 miles south of downtown Columbus, Ohio, straddling the Franklin and Pickaway county line near the village of Lockbourne. Built as a wartime training airfield and later a Cold War Strategic Air Command and Air National Guard base, it is now run by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority as a dedicated cargo and charter hub with two long, ILS-equipped runways that will be familiar to any simulator pilot flying heavy freight or military types into central Ohio.
Rickenbacker International sits on a large, 5,000-acre site just south of Columbus, combining a busy cargo and charter airport with an active military presence. It is operated by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also runs John Glenn Columbus International and Bolton Field, and it hosts the Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing alongside an Ohio Army National Guard aviation facility and the headquarters of the Ohio Military Reserve. For a sim pilot the appeal lies in its huge, ILS-served runways, its mix of heavy cargo jets and military traffic, and its rich Tuskegee Airmen and Cold War heritage.
The airport lies about 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Columbus, near the village of Lockbourne in southern Franklin County, with its southern end extending into Pickaway County, Ohio. It is served by an active control tower (callsign RICK TWR) and by Columbus Approach and Departure control, reflecting its status as a controlled aerodrome handling a mix of heavy cargo, charter, and military traffic. The field is easily reached from the Columbus area via the I-270 outerbelt.
Rickenbacker has two long parallel runways. Runway 05R/23L is 12,079 ft (05R) by 12,078 ft (23L), a hard-surfaced, lit runway equipped with ILS on both approach directions. Runway 05L/23R comprises a 10,993 ft lit surface on the 05L threshold, also served by ILS, and a 10,902 ft lit surface on the 23R threshold. Field elevation is 738 ft.
Rickenbacker Tower operates as RICK TWR on 120.05 MHz. Columbus Approach works on 119.15 MHz and Columbus Departure on 123.8 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 121.85 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Weather information is broadcast on AWOS-3 at 132.75 MHz. Military and support frequencies include an operations post on 36.7 MHz (ARNG OPS) and a command post on 23.88 MHz. Both main runway directions are served by ILS.
Rickenbacker is a tower-controlled field, with arriving and departing traffic sequenced by Columbus Approach and Departure and handed to Rickenbacker Tower for the runway environment; no specific circuit heights or joining procedures are published in the sources reviewed.
The airport can be identified from the air by its very long parallel runway pair and its position just south of the village of Lockbourne, straddling the Franklin-Pickaway county line. The Columbus I-270 outerbelt lies to the north, and the airport is roughly 10 miles south of downtown Columbus. On the ground, the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center sits at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Club Street, next to the Air National Guard facility, both useful reference points near the military cantonment area.
The airfield opened in June 1942 as Lockbourne Army Airfield, taking its name from the nearby village, and soon became the Northeastern Training Center of the Army Air Corps, providing basic pilot training and support, including training Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) on B-17 bombers and glider pilots on the Waco CG-4A. Its primary wartime unit was the all-Black 447th Composite Group, the Tuskegee Airmen. After the war the base shifted to developing and testing all-weather military flight operations, and during the Cold War it became Lockbourne Air Force Base under Strategic Air Command. On 18 May 1974 it was redesignated Rickenbacker Air Force Base in honour of Columbus native and World War I fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker, and on 1 April 1980 it passed to the Air National Guard as Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. Recommended for closure in 1991, the base was retained in 1993 following a State of Ohio proposal, with the Air National Guard remaining as tenants; the surrounding facility was renamed Rickenbacker Air National Guard Station in 1994. A consolidated Navy and Marine Corps Air Reserve Center was built at the airport from 2001, and a new air traffic control tower opened in 2016. The airport has twice hosted the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends, in 1999 and 2007, and staged the Columbus Air Show in 2023.
Rickenbacker International today functions primarily as a cargo airport for the Columbus area, with Cathay Pacific Cargo and Emirates SkyCargo among the carriers supporting significant freight growth, and it has carried an increasing volume of passenger charter traffic, notably from Allegiant Airlines, since 2012. The US Air Force retains a presence through the Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing, and the field also hosts the Ohio Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility No. 2 and the headquarters of the Ohio Military Reserve. The airport is designated a landing-rights and customs facility, meaning prior permission is required before arrival.
