Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ) lies a few miles north of the historic city of St Augustine on Florida's northeast coast, and combines airline, corporate and general aviation traffic on a single, well-equipped field. Its long main runway and full instrument approach make it a useful and interesting destination for simulator pilots exploring the region, with a history stretching from a 1930s municipal airfield through wartime naval service to a major aircraft-modification centre.
Northeast Florida Regional Airport, known locally by its former identity as St Augustine Airport, is a medium-sized public aerodrome operated by the St. Johns County Airport Authority. It sits close to the Atlantic coast just north of the old city of St Augustine and handles a mix of airline, corporate and general aviation movements, making it a lively and varied field for a VFR or instrument arrival in the simulator.
The airport is located in unincorporated St Johns County, Florida, about four miles north of historic downtown St Augustine. Arrivals and departures are worked by Jacksonville Approach/Departure, reflecting the airport's position within the wider Jacksonville terminal airspace, and the field itself has an air traffic control tower for local circuit and ground movements.
The airport has three physical runways. The main runway, 13/31, is a hard-surfaced, lit strip of around 6,933 to 7,190 feet, with an instrument landing system serving runway 31. A second hard runway, 02/20, runs about 2,613 to 2,745 feet, while the third, 06/24, is a lit hard runway of about 2,702 feet in each direction.
Jacksonville Approach/Departure works arrivals and departures on 120.75 MHz. On the field, the ATIS broadcasts on 119.625 MHz, the tower and CTAF operate on 127.625 MHz, and Ground is on 121.175 MHz. A UNICOM frequency of 122.95 MHz is also listed, along with a remote Gainesville radio outlet on 122.3 MHz. Runway 31 is equipped with an ILS for instrument approaches.
Local traffic is worked by the tower on the CTAF/TWR frequency of 127.625 MHz, with ground movements handled separately on 121.175 MHz; pilots should obtain the ATIS on 119.625 MHz before joining.
The historic city of St Augustine, with its Spanish colonial core and coastal setting, lies a few miles south of the airport and serves as a useful landmark for orientation. The former Fairchild and later Grumman/Northrop Grumman industrial complex, still visible on and around the airport property, is another distinctive feature for pilots approaching from the surrounding area.
The airfield began in December 1933 when the St Augustine City Commission bought land at Araquay Park, north of the city, to convert into a public airport, with federal grants funding improvements through the 1930s. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, civil flying was halted and the U.S. Navy took over the site as Naval Auxiliary Air Station St Augustine, using it as a satellite gunnery training base linked to Naval Air Station Jacksonville and adding runways, hangars and a control tower. The airport was returned to the city in May 1946 and briefly served feeder airlines before falling into disuse by 1950, when it was leased to the local Moose Lodge for a nominal rent. Its fortunes revived in 1954 when the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation announced an aircraft modification plant at the field, opening in 1955 and later working on military types such as the C-119, C-123 and their AC-119 gunship and spray-aircraft conversions; this military work drove the lengthening of runway 13/31 to nearly 8,000 feet. A terminal and hangars were added in 1966, and Ernie Moser's Aero Sport became the airport's FBO in 1967, with the Moser family becoming locally well known for aviation exploits including a Piper Cub landing on a moving vehicle and the flying of a Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister; the Moser era ended when the business was sold to Galaxy Aviation in January 2006. Fairchild closed its operations in 1976, and the site was later taken over by Grumman (now Northrop Grumman) in 1980 for an aircraft modification plant supporting Navy and Marine Corps types including the A-6 Intruder, EA-6B Prowler, C-2 Greyhound, E-2 Hawkeye and F-14 Tomcat; Grumman also ran the control tower, runway arresting gear and airport fire and rescue cover during this period. In 1986 the airport gained FAR Part 139 certification, enabling scheduled and larger charter airline operations and access to federal improvement grants, and it was designated a reliever airport for Jacksonville International. The airport was renamed Northeast Florida Regional Airport in April 2010.
Northeast Florida Regional Airport today operates as a Part 139-certificated field handling a mix of scheduled, charter, corporate and general aviation traffic, with separate commercial and general aviation terminal facilities. As of the year ending September 2020, the airport recorded 116,045 aircraft operations and had 228 based aircraft, comprising single-engine, multi-engine, jet, military and helicopter types.