Greenville Downtown Airport

Greenville Downtown Airport
IATA: GMU – ICAO: KGMU – FAA LID: GMU
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Greenville Airport Commission
Serves		Greenville, South Carolina
Elevation AMSL		1,048 ft / 319 m
Coordinates		34°50′53″N 082°21′00″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
1/19	5,393	1,644	Asphalt
10/28	3,998	1,219	Asphalt
Helipads
Number	Length		Surface
	ft	m
H1	50	15	Concrete
H2	50	15	Concrete
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations			76,260
Based aircraft			250
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Greenville Downtown Airport (IATA: GMU, ICAO: KGMU, FAA LID: GMU) is a public airport located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of Greenville, a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. It is operated by the Greenville Airport Commission on public land.

History

GMU was opened in 1928 and was initially named Greenville Municipal Airport. In 1930, GMU received its first airmail flight.

During World War II, the United States Army Air Force indicated a need for the airfield as a training airfield. The airport was used jointly by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command) as a contract glider training school, operated by Southern Airways, Inc from 1941 until mid-1943. The airport was then reassigned to Air Technical Service Command, and used as a supply and maintenance depot until being returned to full civil control in October 1945.

In 1954, Charles Lindbergh dedicated the opening of a new terminal. Up until 1962, GMU was the commercial airport for the Greenville area. It was from this airport that the fatal flight of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Convair 240 departed on October 20, 1977. The recently renovated terminal won a national award.

Facilities

Greenville Downtown Airport covers an area of 385 acres (156 ha) which contains two asphalt paved runways: 1/19 measuring 5,393 x 100 ft (1,644 x 30 m) and 10/28 measuring 3,998 x 80 ft (1,219 x 24 m). It also had two helipads, each with a 50 x 50 ft (15 x 15 m) concrete surface. It is located between the commercial corridors of I-385, Laurens Road, Pleasantburg Drive and Haywood Road.

The Airport Commission recently completed extensive runway, taxiway, and apron improvements, a major terminal renovation, and construction of a new road that made additional land available for development.

Located at GMU are many companies that provide aviation services like aircraft rental and flight instruction, aircraft maintenance, helicopter services and flight instruction, aircraft management, fuel service, aircraft sales, air charter and air taxi services. See: http://www.greenvilledowntownairport.com/index.html for details.

GMU also has a restaurant, the Runway Cafe. See: http://www.runwaycafegmu.com/ for details.

Governance

The Greenville Downtown Airport is governed by a 5-person appointed Commission authorized by Act 919. Two appointees each from City and County Councils and one at-large serve three year terms.

Economic Impact

A recently completed statewide economic impact study for all of South Carolina's airports revealed that the Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) has a significant economic impact:

Total Employment - 453 jobs
Total Payroll - $13.4 million
Total Economic Impact = $35.2 million

The report notes that GMU is the busiest general aviation airport in South Carolina with nearly 80,000 take-offs and landings annually and more than 245 based aircraft. (source: A report prepared for the South Carolina Aeronatuics Commission by Wilbur Smith Associates in May, 2006)

Awards

The FAA Southern Region recently selected GMU to receive its General Aviation Airport Safety Award. The award is presented to a general aviation airport in the Southeast that makes outstanding efforts to increase flight safety. GMU accomplished this by completing numerous safety-enhancing projects. Of particular note, GMU was the first general aviation airport in the nation to install an Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) in the latter part of 2003. EMAS rapidly and safely decelerates aircraft that have overrun the active runway by utilizing energy absorbing material. In the summer of 2006, this system was credited with saving five passengers and a $20 million Falcon 900 jet that overran Runway 1 due to a brake malfunction.

The FAA Southern Region selected Joe Frasher, Airport Director of GMU, as the 2008 General Aviation Airport Manager of the Year. This award is presented to a general aviation airport manager in the Southeast who makes outstanding efforts to increase flight safety. Mr. Frasher was instrumental in completing numerous safety-enhancing projects at GMU over the last 26 years.

"The staff of the Greenville Downtown Airport is distinguished in its commitment to continually increasing flight safety," said Rusty Chapman, recently retired Manager of the Airports Division, FAA Southern Region. "They accomplished a significant number of safety upgrades while still successfully operating the state's busiest general aviation airport."

The award was presented to Mr. Frasher at the 2009 FAA Communications Conference in Atlanta on January 30, 2009.

See also

• South Carolina World War II Army Airfields

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
• Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC

External links

• Greenville Downtown Airport
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 12 January 2012
• FAA Terminal Procedures for GMU, effective 12 January 2012
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for GMU
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for GMU