Departure
67%
vs 95% ▼ 28
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Everglades Airpark (X01) is a small public-use general aviation field on the edge of Everglades City in Collier County, Florida, built in the 1940s and long used as a gateway to Everglades National Park. It offers a single lit asphalt runway and a history that includes a presidential dedication, hurricane damage, and a recent brush with permanent closure. Today it survives as a modest but valued strip for pilots visiting the western Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands region.
Everglades Airpark is a publicly owned general aviation airfield serving Everglades City in Collier County, Florida. It is a single-runway field with a long association with the Collier family, the Civil Air Patrol and the U.S. Air Force, and it remains a popular point of arrival for pilots visiting Everglades National Park, the Ten Thousand Islands and Chokoloskee Bay. Its small scale and colourful history, including a 1947 presidential visit and a recent campaign to keep it open, make it an interesting stop for simulator pilots exploring the Florida coast.
The airfield lies about one mile southwest of the central business district of Everglades City, in Collier County, Florida, sited directly south of the city along Chokoloskee Bay. It sits close to the western edge of Everglades National Park.
Everglades Airpark has a single physical runway, 15/33, measuring 2,384 feet and surfaced with hard pavement (asphalt); it is lit for night operations. There is no ILS approach.
Communications are handled on a Unicom frequency of 123.075, as published by the Collier County Airport Authority. No control tower or instrument navaids are provided at the field.
Everglades Airpark was constructed in the 1940s by the Collier family, initially as a 1,000-foot paved strip with 500 feet of grass at each end, and was used by the Civil Air Patrol, the Air Force and private pilots. In December 1947 President Harry Truman used the airfield to dedicate Everglades National Park. Hurricane Donna struck on 9 September 1960, destroying the airport's hangar, office, fuel station and other buildings. Collier County purchased the airpark from the Collier family in 1968 for 125,000 dollars, and in 1993 the Collier County Airport Authority was created to manage it alongside Immokalee Regional Airport and Marco Island Executive Airport. The field has seen two notable accidents: an experimental Comp Air 8 crashed fatally on departure on 6 April 2012 after an aerodynamic stall following unusually steep manoeuvring, and a Piper PA-24 Comanche overran the runway on 18 October 2014, coming to rest inverted in water beyond the strip. Hurricane Ian caused further severe damage in 2022, totalling more than 1.2 million dollars. At the start of 2025 Collier County proposed permanently closing the airpark, citing storm damage and a lack of tenants after the COVID-19 pandemic, but sustained opposition from local pilots and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, together with a newly formed Friends of the Everglades Airpark group, persuaded the county to repair the fuel system, reopen the hangar waiting list and keep the field operating while a study examined its long-term future.
The airpark is operated by the Collier County Airport Authority, with Nick Rossdale as manager and Andrew Bennett as director. Following storm damage from Hurricane Ian, hangars and fuel systems were repaired between 2024 and 2025 as part of an effort to return the field to profitability, and local advocacy has kept it open for based aircraft and visiting pilots. It continues to serve as a general aviation gateway for visitors travelling to Everglades National Park, the historic Rod and Gun Club, and local events such as the Everglades Seafood Festival.