Dinslaken / Schwarze Heide airfield

Dinslaken / Schwarze Heide airfield
Characteristics
ICAO code	EDLD
IATA code	ZCV
Coordinates	51 ° 36 '59 "  N , 6 ° 51' 55"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 36 '59 "  N , 6 ° 51' 55"  E
Height above MSL	65 m (213  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	5 km northwest of Kirchhellen
Street	Dinslakener Strasse (L462)
Basic data
opening	1958
operator	Flugplatzgesellschaft Schwarze Heide mbH
Start-and runway
08/26	1500 m × 30 m asphalt

The Dinslaken / Schwarze Heide airfield is located in the Kirchheller Heide in the northern Ruhr area .

The airfield is operated jointly by the city of Bottrop , the municipality of Hünxe , the city of Dinslaken , the city of Voerde and the district of Wesel .

Like the Marl-Loemühle airfield , it is part of the Route of Industrial Culture .

history

On May 1, 1940, the Kirchhellen air base was put into operation on the site of today's airfield. The following table shows a list of selected active flying units (excluding school and supplementary units) of the Air Force that were stationed here between 1940 and 1945.

From	To	unit
April 1940	May 1940	IV. (Stuka) / LG 1 (IV. (Stuka) group of training squadron 1)
May 1940	May 1940	I./ZG 1 (I. Group of Destroyer Squadron 1)
June 1940	June 1940	II., III./KG 4 (II. And III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 4)
August 1944	September 1944	I./JG 77 (I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 77)
September 1944	November 1944	II./JG 26

In 1957 the Luftsportverein Dinslaken and the Gladbeck Aviation Club commissioned their chairmen to find a suitable area for the construction of an airfield. The choice fell on the “Schwarze Heide” site. In 1958 about 50 acres of land were leased by the representatives of the associations  and the first gliders were able to take off in autumn . In 1959, gliding was officially started. As the lease costs incurred for the glider flying groups were too high a burden, the airfield was also opened for powered aircraft and on January 6, 1960 the Flugplatzgesellschaft Schwarze Heide e. V. founded. In 1961 the district of Dinslaken joined the association, other regional authorities followed. Over the years, the Dinslaken district bought 120 acres of land for use as an airfield.

After the construction of the first hangar in 1961, a plan for a local airfield was drawn up in cooperation with the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Transport. The concept envisaged the expansion with a 1000 m long runway and the paving of the access roads. However, this plan was not implemented due to unresolved land issues.

In 1964 flight operations had to be interrupted for a few months due to the neighboring ammunition dismantling plant. Negotiations with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economics in North Rhine-Westphalia led to a readmission of flight operations. The result of the negotiations was, however, a declaration of intent to further expand the airfield. After obtaining an expert opinion, the earlier planning of a traffic airfield next to the ammunition dismantling plant could no longer be maintained. In 1969, therefore, a new plan was commissioned, which provided for a class 1 airfield on the current airfield site - only for powered flight. The gliding should be outsourced to the area owned by the district of Dinslaken at Heidhof. Despite the approval of the responsible aviation authority, the application was rejected in early 1971 by the head of the aviation department in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The establishment of a regional airport was rejected, particularly considering the existing military low-altitude areas.

In 1972 the airfield company decided to expand it to a class 2 airfield with a glider airfield. For this purpose, an airfield GmbH was founded on December 19, 1977.

description

The 1500 meter long and 30 meter wide asphalt runway has lightning with threshold lightning in both approach directions. The airfield is open for flight operations in summer from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and in winter from 9:00 a.m. to sunset + 30 minutes. Take-offs and landings are also possible from 06:00 to 08:00 and from 20:30 to 22:00 after prior notification by the pilot. The field has runway lights and precision glide angle approach lights (PAPI = Precision Approach Path Indicator).

The Schwarze Heide airfield is a popular leisure destination for cyclists and walkers. It offers leisure and business flights with motorized airplanes, gliders , microlights and helicopters . The airfield is the location of several flight schools, the state performance center for gliding and the Extra Flugzeugproduktions- und Vertriebs GmbH .

Various public flight days with different attractions and flight demonstrations take place at the airfield.

The call sign of the airfield in the air traffic service is "Dinslaken Info", the frequencies are 122.705 MHz (space) and 123.210 MHz (glider flight).

Expansion of the runway

A Cessna 550B Citation Bravo at the "Schwarze-Heide" airfield, 2012

Plans to enlarge the airfield were approved on November 11, 2008 by the district government. The planned expansion of the runway from 900 m to 1500 m began on February 17, 2010 by the Oevermann company . Half of the planned investment costs for the expansion of 6.5 million euros will be borne by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The remaining 50% are borne by the five operating municipalities: Bottrop, Hünxe, Voerde, Dinslaken and the Wesel district. Since the city of Bottrop holds 49% of the shares, it pays for the largest share, which corresponds to around 1.6 million euros. The expansion had become necessary so that, after the tightening of the European safety guidelines, the current use remains possible in the future. In autumn 2010, the runway was expanded without interrupting flight operations. Companies with an affinity for flights are to be relocated to the adjacent intermunicipal industrial park in the city of Bottrop and the municipality of Hünxe. The expanded runway and the industrial park can create up to 600 new jobs.

Economy and criticism

The airfield receives an annual operating subsidy of approx. € 200,000 (before expansion). This is a counter-argument of the Greens and United Voting Communities of the Wesel district. A 215-page planning approval decision by the Düsseldorf district government shows:

"There is currently no market-related need based on specific demands"

- District government of Düsseldorf

“It rejects the forecasts made by the airport company on the economic development of the airfield as being too high. During its examination, the district government was unable to determine that there had been any notable operations at the Schwarze Heide airfield in the past that were no longer allowed to take off and land there according to EU safety standards, nor was there a "significant loss of flight movements" after its introduction the new safety regulations in 2005. So the current 120 jobs would probably not be endangered if everything was left as it is. "

- Association of Taxpayers NRW

Location

According to the address, the airfield is in Hünxe, but the official name is also given as "Dinslaken - Schwarze Heide" and the official location is always 1.9  nautical miles northwest of Kirchhellen .

Parts of the runway are located both in the area of ​​Hünxe and in the Bottrop area. Kirchhellen is a district of Bottrop. Since this is the closest village, it is also mentioned in the AIP: 1.9 NM NW of Kirchhellen.

Gliding

Glider take off single-seater row EDLD

The Schwarze Heide airfield was founded in 1985 by the NRW regional association of the German Aero Club e. V. appointed the state performance base for gliding, with the aim of introducing young pilots in particular to cross-country and competitive flights. Resident clubs include the Dinslaken Aviation Club, the Bottrop Aviation Club, the Gladbeck Aviation Club, the Oberhausen Duisburg Aviation Club and the Gladbeck & Kirchhellen Aviation Club.

Web links

Commons : Flugplatz Schwarze Heide  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Black Heath Airport
• Description of this sight on the route of industrial culturehttp: //vorlage.rik.test/~7~10773

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 337-338 , accessed on September 19, 2014
2. ^ Franz Naskrent: Runway expansion has started. In: nrz.de. February 18, 2010, accessed November 30, 2018 . 
3. ↑ WAZ of November 14, 2008
4. ↑ rp-online.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ The Association of Taxpayers NRW October 2009
6. ↑ List of German airfields