On Saturday, April 19, the Nelson airport will host Open Day with an pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon.
In 1912, just nine years after the Wright brothers’ first powered flight, a pilot flew his wood and fabric plane to Nelson’s annual fruit fair.
Nelson had entered the age of flight. But it wasn’t until after the Second World War that the City of Nelson, with a federal grant, purchased the site of the current airport from CP and the Ministry of the Environment and launched a visionary plan. Project No. 1 was a 3,400 foot runway, part of a series of lakeside projects, and in the early 1960s volunteers began work building one of the world’s most spectacular airports.
Today the airport, named for the popular wartime mayor Norman Stibbs, is a valuable piece of the city’s infrastructure supporting tourism, medivacs, wildfire control, commerce and recreation. Three rotary operators and numerous fixed wing aircraft bring a huge boost to the city and the region’s economy. It also hosts the only flight school in the West Kootenay, training over 20 new pilots every year.
The airport is available for local schools’ field trips where it takes only a little imagination to connect the small planes they see with intercontinental flight and space travel. The city’s air cadets relish their first flight experiences off the Nelson runway and celebrate their annual parade on its apron. On Remembrance Day, Nelson pilots overfly the cenotaph reminding us that aviation is not always as benign as sightseeing trips over local glaciers, whilst Open Days at the airport give direct access to the world of aviation.
In aviation circles, Nelson's airport ranks as one of the world’s most iconic. Surrounded by challenging terrain with its skill-demanding approaches and jaw-dropping scenery, the airport is on many pilots’ bucket list. Nestled in the heart of downtown, the Nelson airport connects every resident and visitor to the rich legacy of Canada's aviation inventors, pioneers, and dreamers, both past and present.
The entrance fee for Open Day is $10 for adults and $6 for children.
