North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport


North Palm Beach County Airport, also known as North County Airport, is an uncontrolled general aviation airport located 12 nautical miles northwest of West Palm Beach off the Bee Line Highway in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The airport is owned by Palm Beach County and operated by the Palm Beach County Airports Department.
The field is in proximity to, and shares services with, William P. Gwinn Airport which is owned by United Technologies Corporation. It was previously operated by its Pratt & Whitney jet engine business unit and is currently operated by its Sikorsky Aircraft business unit. Due to its proximity to the Sikorsky test grounds, North County is often used to test ILS approaches on experimental or prototype helicopters such as the RAH-66 Comanche, SH-60 Seahawk and the S-92.
DayJet previously provided an on-demand jet air taxi service from this airport to Jacksonville, Lakeland, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Gainesville, Boca Raton, Opa-Locka/Miami Dade County, Naples, Sarasota/Bradenton, Savannah, Macon, and Montgomery until its liquidation in bankruptcy in 2008.

Facilities and aircraft

North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport covers an area of at an elevation of 22 feet above mean sea level. It has one turf runway designated 8L/26R which measures 3,700 by 75 feet, plus two asphalt paved runways: 8R/26L measuring 4,300 by 100 feet and 13/31 measuring 4,303 by 75 feet.
For the 12-month period ending June 20, 2002, the airport had 35,532 aircraft operations, an average of 97 per day, all of which were general aviation. At that time there were 215 aircraft based at this airport: 60% single-engine, 31% multi-engine, 3% jet, 4% glider and 2% helicopter.
There are two active helicopter landing pads.
The airport has one fixed-base operator, Signature Flight Support.
North County is home to Ocean Helicopters and Cloud 9 Helicopters Both maintain a fleet of Robinson helicopters and both are FAA Certified Part 141 Flight Schools. There are also 2 fixed wing schools, Sunquest Aviation and Platinum Aviation, an FAA Certified Part 141 Flight School.