Sierra Vista Municipal Airport

Sierra Vista Municipal Airport

Libby Army Airfield
Sierra Vista Municipal Airport; Libby Army Airfield
	IATA: FHU; ICAO: KFHU; FAA LID: FHU;
Summary
Airport type	Public / military
Operator	City of Sierra Vista and; United States Army
Serves	Sierra Vista, Arizona
Location	Fort Huachuca
Elevation AMSL	4,719 ft / 1,438 m
Coordinates	31°35′18″N 110°20′40″W / 31.58833°N 110.34444°W / 31.58833; -110.34444
Map
	FHU FHU
Runways
Helipads
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations
Aircraft operations	157,184
Based aircraft	118
	Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Sierra Vista Municipal Airport (IATA: FHU, ICAO: KFHU, FAA LID: FHU), a joint-use civil-military airport which shares facilities with Libby Army Airfield, is located on Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, a city and U.S. Army installation in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. The airport has three runways and one helipad. It is mostly used for military aviation for the surrounding military base.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 1,304 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2005 and 2,041 enplanements in 2006.^[2] According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011, Sierra Vista is a general aviation airport (the commercial service category requires at least 2,500 passenger boardings per year).^[3]

Historical airline service

The airport has seen scheduled commercial service to Tucson and Phoenix by at least ten commuter air carriers from the 1960s through 2007:

Apache Airlines in the 1960s
America West Airlines in the 1990s.^[4]
Cochise Airlines in the 1970s
Copper State Airlines 1980-1982
Golden Airways 1981-1983
Sierra Vista Aviation 1983-1987
Golden Pacific Airlines 1987
StatesWest Airlines 1989–1991. From mid-1990 through 1991 StatesWest operated as USAir Express on behalf of USAir.
Mesa Airlines 1989–2002. From late 1992 through late 2002 Mesa operated as America West Express on behalf of America West Airlines.
National Aircompany 2003-2004
Great Lakes Airlines 2005–2007^[5]

The airport has not seen commercial service since Great Lakes Airlines ended on February 28, 2007.^[6]

Facilities and aircraft

Sierra Vista Municipal/Libby Army Airfield has three runways and one helipad:^[1]

Runway 8/26: 12,001 x 150 ft (3,658 x 46 m), surface: concrete
Runway 12/30: 5,366 x 100 ft (1,636 x 30 m), surface: asphalt/concrete
Runway 3/21: 4,285 x 75 ft (1,306 x 23 m), surface: asphalt/concrete
Helipad H1: 40 x 40 ft (12 x 12 m), surface: asphalt

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 157,184 aircraft operations, an average of 430 per day: 74% military, 24% general aviation, 1% scheduled commercial and <1% air taxi. There are 118 aircraft based at this airport: 59% single engine, 24% military, 7% multi engine, 7% helicopters and 3% ultralights.^[1]

Cargo airline

Airlines	Destinations
Ameriflight	Phoenix-Sky Harbor

Accidents and incidents

On January 1, 2015, a Cochise County Sheriff's Office helicopter crashed 20 miles north of the airport while returning to it after having maintenance work performed at the Phoenix area. Pilot and former police officer Jeff Steele and mechanic Marc Hansen, a pilot himself, were both killed.^[7]

References

^ a b c FAA Airport Form 5010 for FHU PDF, effective 2007-10-25
^ FAA Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data: 2006
^ FAA National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems: 2007-2011
^ "America West Express October 27, 1996". 13 August 2021.
^ Airline timetables and the Official Airline Guide
^ "Commercial air service to Sierra Vista Municipal Airport to end March 1st". City of Sierra Vista press release. 2007-02-02.
^ "2 dead after Cochise County Sheriff's Office helicopter crashes near Benson | azfamily.com Phoenix". Archived from the original on 2015-01-03. Retrieved 2015-01-03.

External links

Sierra Vista Municipal Airport at City of Sierra Vista website
Sierra Vista Municipal Airport (FHU) at Arizona DOT airport directory
Libby Army Airfield at GlobalSecurity.org
Sierra Vista Aero Association
FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective March 21, 2024
FAA Terminal Procedures for FHU, effective March 21, 2024
Resources for this airport:
- FAA airport information for FHU
- AirNav airport information for KFHU
- ASN accident history for FHU
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
- SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures

[FAA-1] FAA Airport Form 5010 for FHU PDF, effective 2007-10-25

[2] FAA Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data: 2006

[3] FAA National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems: 2007-2011

[4] "America West Express October 27, 1996". 13 August 2021.

[5] Airline timetables and the Official Airline Guide

[6] "Commercial air service to Sierra Vista Municipal Airport to end March 1st". City of Sierra Vista press release. 2007-02-02.

[7] "2 dead after Cochise County Sheriff's Office helicopter crashes near Benson | azfamily.com Phoenix". Archived from the original on 2015-01-03. Retrieved 2015-01-03.