Branson Area

midwestpa24

midwestpa24

Final Approach
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midwestpa24
Is there anyone on here from the Branson, MO area?

I was doing a little research on BBG airport, namely on it being developed using private investors originally. I was just looking to see how it was working out honestly, just for curiosity's sake. In doing so, I also found that Branson West airport, FWB, was also built at the same time.

Can anyone explain why the powers that be in Branson felt the need to construct two new airports, about equal distance from Branson proper? New airports are quite expensive (especially in the hill country), and rarely built from the ground up anymore. To have two brand new airports built in the same area, at the same time, is an oddity. I have to wonder what led to this situation.
 
Just servicing the acts.

BBG is owned by the Taney County, leased to Branson Regional Airport Authority and operated by Branson Airport LLC - 7100 ft runway.

PLK is the old airport owed by Taney County - 3700 ft runway - not long enough for jets.

SGF is the Springfield Airport - 8000 ft runway - to far for the stars.

FWB is owned by the City of Branson West in Stone County - 5000 ft Runway

The College of the Ozarks, known as hard work U because they trade labor for tuition, is in Branson and their students worked at the airport when I was there last.
 
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Clip4 said:
Just servicing the acts.

BBG is owned by the Taney County, leased to Branson Regional Airport Authority and operated by Branson Airport LLC - 7100 ft runway.

PLK is the old airport owed by Taney County - 3700 ft runway - not long enough for jets.

SGF is the Springfield Airport - 8000 ft runway - to far for the stars.

FWB is owned by the City of Branson West in Stone County - 5000 ft Runway

The College of the Ozarks, known as hard work U because they trade labor for tuition, is in Branson and their students worked at the airport when I was there last.
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BBG and FWB were the two that caught my eye. Both opened in 2009. BBG is obviously designed to be a commercial airport, but probably hasn't panned out so well in that regard. FWB is a nice sized GA airport, but nothing it provides couldn't be handled by BBG. Certainly not trying to argue away an airport, just trying to figure the reason for two airports so close together to be built simultaneously.
 
I'm surprised they found that much flat land to build an airport. A wild guess is that the airport construction started during the pre 2008 crash, the area was growing fast, and local governments had Fear Of Missing Out.
 
Clip4 said:
The College of the Ozarks, known as hard work U because they trade labor for tuition, is in Branson and their students worked at the airport when I was there last.
Click to expand...

It’s been a while, but the restaurant at the college was excellent.
 
midwestpa24 said:
BBG and FWB were the two that caught my eye. Both opened in 2009. BBG is obviously designed to be a commercial airport, but probably hasn't panned out so well in that regard. FWB is a nice sized GA airport, but nothing it provides couldn't be handled by BBG. Certainly not trying to argue away an airport, just trying to figure the reason for two airports so close together to be built simultaneously.
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Branson draws a rather unique crowd that has gotten smaller.
 
And where does Graham Clark Downtown (PLK) fit in? Which is most GA friendly?
 
There was a passenger jet landed @ PLK not that ago. Seems like they bussed the passengers to BBG.

https://hometowndailynewsarchives.com/2014/01/13/airport-issues-statement-on-plane-landing/


Marc

Clip4 said:
Just servicing the acts.

BBG is owned by the Taney County, leased to Branson Regional Airport Authority and operated by Branson Airport LLC - 7100 ft runway.

PLK is the old airport owed by Taney County - 3700 ft runway - not long enough for jets.

SGF is the Springfield Airport - 8000 ft runway - to far for the stars.

FWB is owned by the City of Branson West in Stone County - 5000 ft Runway

The College of the Ozarks, known as hard work U because they trade labor for tuition, is in Branson and their students worked at the airport when I was there last.
Click to expand...
 
Cluemeister said:
And where does Graham Clark Downtown (PLK) fit in? Which is most GA friendly?
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We used plk this summer, primarily because it was the only place I could get a rental car. There was probably a dozen piston singles on the ramp. Kind of a neat airport on top of a big hill. Fairly short with steep dropoffs on each end. I can't imagine a 737 managing to get in & out of there.

I thought it was odd to have 3 airports so close, but didn't realize they built two at the same time. Weird.
 
Jim K said:
I can't imagine a 737 managing to get in & out of there.
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The most amazing part of that to me was they didn't do it on purpose. I could imagine it being done with careful planning and execution. Doing it by accident is mind blowing.
 
midwestpa24 said:
The most amazing part of that to me was they didn't do it on purpose. I could imagine it being done with careful planning and execution. Doing it by accident is mind blowing.
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And the consequences if they had ran long....
 
I'd like to say they had to be on their game, but just can't bring myself to do it.

@ some point, there was a 'oh crap' moment.

Marc

midwestpa24 said:
The most amazing part of that to me was they didn't do it on purpose. I could imagine it being done with careful planning and execution. Doing it by accident is mind blowing.
Click to expand...
 
Branson back in the 90's was a boom town fueled mostly with local and Nashville money. We did some work there and enjoyed it up there. Lots of Northeast developers came in in the 2000's and literally fueled a huge overbuilt boom. Lots of time shares, lots of crap apartments. A lot of time the developers didn't pay the construction companies doing the work, which left a lot of unfinished buildings.

We nearly got scammed by one of these developers, but when we sat down to go over the contract I literally got up in the middle of the meeting and walked out on a multi million dollar deal because these guys smelled of scum. Glad I did, as they didn't pay the subcontractors after the first few months and everybody took a bath. I'm sure the easy money of the mid 2000's fueled the building of those airports.

Went back for the first time since that incident last fall. Flew into Downtown and the wife and I had a good time. Right in the middle of Covid, so most of the shows weren't operating.
 
midwestpa24 said:
The most amazing part of that to me was they didn't do it on purpose. I could imagine it being done with careful planning and execution. Doing it by accident is mind blowing.
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This was a total training failure. The runways are not the same width or number. Before they crossed the threshold the error should have been obvious because the approach lighting at the 2 airports are different. Then crossing the threshold the runway numbers and width indicator would be wrong.
 
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Clip4 said:
This was a total training failure. The runways are not the same width or number. Before they crossed the threshold the error should have been obvious because the approach lighting at the 2 airports are different. Then crossing the threshold the runway numbers and width indicator would be wrong.
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They also wouldn't be the first, and I'd guess they won't be the last. 747 Dreamerlifter landed at Colonial Jabara instead of McConnell AFB, C-17 that was trying to land at MacDill AFB in Tampa but didn't. Confirmation bias probably plays a large role, they see what they want to see. Interesting part always is a large airplane mistakenly landing at a very small airport. The C-17 was even broad daylight.
 
midwestpa24 said:
They also wouldn't be the first, and I'd guess they won't be the last. 747 Dreamerlifter landed at Colonial Jabara instead of McConnell AFB, C-17 that was trying to land at MacDill AFB in Tampa but didn't. Confirmation bias probably plays a large role, they see what they want to see. Interesting part always is a large airplane mistakenly landing at a very small airport. The C-17 was even broad daylight.
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It's not just the jet guys. Along the lines of landing on a glorified aircraft carrier atop a cliff... Silver once landed a Saab 340 at 4G7 in WV instead of CKB. 2965x75 ft vs the 7800x150 ft on a different heading that they were supposed to land on.

And yours truly once lined up for a straight in at Wright Patt AFB instead of DAY years ago. I've heard a couple AF and civilian guys be told they were lined up for the wrong field on the frequency over the years locally. Approach is cool about it at least.
 
I flew charter MD-80s into BBG as part of the Branson Air Express DOT 380s service. Loads were good part of the year but fell off the cliff in the off seasons. It’s a great airport and we’d see GA aircraft of all types there.
 
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