Dayton–Wright Brothers Airport is a public airport located 10 miles (16 km) south of the central business district of Dayton, Ohio, located mainly in Miami Township, Montgomery County and partly in Clearcreek Township, Warren County, near the suburb of Springboro. It is owned and operated by the City of Dayton and serves as the reliever airport for Dayton International Airport. It mainly serves corporate and personal aircraft users. The airport's identifying code, MGY, is a reference to its former name of Montgomery County Airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Dayton–Wright Brothers Airport covers an area of 541 acre which contains one asphalt paved runway (2/20) measuring 5,000 x 100 ft (1,524 x 30 m). The airport has instrument landing facilities, but does not have a control tower. For the 12-month period ending September 8, 2022, the airport had 38,690 aircraft operations, an average of 106 per day: 98% general aviation (48% general aviation local, 45% general aviation itinerant), 2% air taxi, and <1% military. This is less than half of the 89,000 aircraft operations the airport had in 2016. In 2022, there were 73 aircraft based at this airport: 49 single-engine and 10 multi-engine airplanes as well as 7 jets and 7 helicopters. The airport facilities also include a runway equipped with a partial precision approach consisting of a localizer (LOC), approach lighting system (MALS), runway lighting (MIRL) and a visual approach slope indicator (VASI), 68 T-hangars, 6 conventional hangars, 5000 sqft. maintenance facility and 9600 sqft administration building. The airport has a fixed-base operator that offers fuel, general maintenance, courtesy transportation, a conference room, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, and more. Multiple new hangars were built at the airport in 2021 to accommodate more aircraft parking and incentivise more aircraft to be based at the airport. In 2009, the airport received $150,000 to conduct a pavement management study. In 2022, the airport received over $1 million from the Federal Aviation Administration to complete infrastructure upgrades. Funds were focused on mitigating wildlife hazards at the airport.

Attractions

The airport is home to a number of airshows each year. It holds a World War II-style airshow that features vintage warbirds such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Curtiss P40 Warhawk, North American B-25 Mitchell, and P-51 Mustang. The airport previously hosted a Runway Fest where community members and children could listen to live music, get their faces painted, use a bouncy castle, interact with aircraft, and take airplane rides. On the airport grounds is a replica of the Wright brothers' Huffman Prairie hangar, containing a museum and replica Wright B Flyer. The museum is open to the public during limited hours.

Accidents and incidents