Medina Municipal Airport (FAA LID: 1G5) is a public use airport in Medina County, Ohio, United States. It is owned by the City of Medina and is located four nautical miles (7.41 km) east of the city's central business district. According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007-2011, it is categorized as a reliever airport. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport is assigned 1G5 by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA. The airport houses a flying club sponsored by NASA.

History

From the early 1960s through the late 1970s, the airport was privately owned and was known as Freedom Field Inc. The airport was unique in that it had a Pitts Special aerobatic biplane broker on the field and a B-25 bomber was parked at the north end near SR 94. At that time, the airport was also a Cessna Aircraft 'zone' Warehouse. Brand new Cessna aircraft were flown from Wichita KS and stored on the airport until sold to Cessna dealers in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Because of this, the airport had every type of single engine Cessna available on the field to purchase. There was a bit of a controversy in 1977 because someone in Cleveland suggested that the very small Freedom Field could have been used as a reliever airport for jet cargo aircraft from Cleveland Hopkins International Airports. Mr. Freed, the owner of the airport, pointed out on local media that the individual suggesting this did not even bother to check if that was feasible within the confines of the small airport. Parking spaces were expanded at the airport in 2013 when a helicopter based at the airport began taking up half of the parking space the Federal Aviation Administration recommends the airport has. The airport received a $90,315 federal grant in 2015 to improve efficiency and safety at the airport. It funded rehabilitation of an aircraft parking apron. The airport received a $168,750 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2022 to update its master plan and layout. The airport is also considering purchasing 30 additional acres of land to build additional corporate hangars and a maintenance facility as well as to extend a runway by 400 feet. The airport was the center of controversy in 2022 when it was found a 17-year-old airport worker organized a supercar photoshoot at the airport. Cars were taken onto the airport's runway and driven at high speeds, even as aircraft were taking off and landing.

Facilities and aircraft

Medina Municipal Airport covers an area of 283 acre at an elevation of 1,190 feet (363 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt runways designated 01/19, with a surface measuring 2,867 x 60 feet (874 x 18 m), and 09/27, with a surface measuring 3,556 x 75 feet (1,084 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending September 23, 2020, the airport had 79,685 aircraft operations, an average of 218 per day: 98% general aviation, 2% air taxi, and a few military and ultralight. At that time, there were 54 aircraft based at this airport: 49 single-engine and 3 multi-engine airplanes as well as 2 helicopters. The airport has a fixed-base operator that sells fuel and offers amenities such as general maintenance, avionics services, a conference room, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, and more.

Accidents and incidents