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Bănești is a small grass airfield in the Prahova Valley of Romania, sited near the village of Urleta within the commune of Bănești, close to the confluence of the Prahova and Doftana rivers. It offers a single grass strip suited to light aircraft and general aviation flying in the foothills of the Southern Carpathians, in an area with a notable place in Romanian aviation history.
Bănești airfield lies in the village of Urleta, part of the commune of Bănești in Prahova County, Romania, in the foothills of the Southern Carpathians. It is a modest grass-strip aerodrome, and its setting in the Prahova Valley, at the point where the plain gives way to the mountains, makes it a scenic destination for light aircraft pilots exploring the region.
The airfield sits in the western part of Prahova County, at the confluence of the Prahova River and its tributary the Doftana, just south of the town of Câmpina and some 28 km northwest of the county seat, Ploiești. The area is crossed by the national road DN1, which links Bucharest, 88 km to the south, with the northwestern part of the country, giving a clear linear feature for orientation. The terrain here marks the transition from the Wallachian Plain to the Carpathian foothills.
Bănești has a single grass runway, oriented 05/23, measuring 2233 ft in length. There is no ILS or other instrument approach available, so operations are conducted visually.
Notable landmarks near the airfield include the wooden church of the Holy Archangels in Urleta, dating from 1760 with extensions added in 1844, and the Aurel Vlaicu memorial monument, erected in 1930 just west of the DN1 road at the southern entrance to Bănești village. The DN1 road itself, running along the Prahova Valley, and the confluence of the Prahova and Doftana rivers provide additional reference points for pilots orienting themselves toward the field.
The area around Bănești holds a significant place in early Romanian aviation history: on 13 September 1913, pioneering aviator Aurel Vlaicu died on the outskirts of the village when his A. Vlaicu II aircraft crashed during an attempt to become the first to fly across the Carpathian Mountains. A memorial monument to Vlaicu was later erected in 1930 just west of the DN1 road at the southern entrance to the village, and it is now classified as a national historic monument.
