KMKT - Mankato Regional Airport - Mankato, MN
Mankato Regional Airport is a mid-sized airport in south central Minnesota. It has numerous amenities which make it attractive including it's FBO and flight training school (North Star Avaiation) which partners with Minnesota State University for all your training needs. Because of the extensive flight training program, it has the claim of being the second busiest airport in Minnesota based on number of aircraft movements. Currently it is a Pilot Controlled airport but is investigating becoming a towered airfield in the future.
This airport is one that can do quite a bit. Besides the extensive flight training, it also boasts a 6600x100 foot concrete primary runway (15-33) and a 4000x75 foot cross wind runway (4-22, GA focused). There is extensive Business Jet traffic here as well as Mankato has a fair business presence. The airport is also equipped to handle large aircraft movements as well. The largest aircraft I've seen pictures of here is a C-17 and also has seen a C-32 (military version of the Boeing 757) here as well. My personal experiece with this airport is an airshow in 2015 which saw the USAF Thunderbirds Demonstration Team, so I've seen F-16's fly off the runway as well. Piper aircraft seem to own the majority of the traffic with the flight school operations. Also for the helicopter fans out there, the Mayo One helicopter is based on the field. The field even has a Copter ILS chart for you helo fans! Speaking of navigation, there is an ILS to runway 33 here and RNAV approaches to everything else. There is also the MKT VOR on the field which allows you to hand fly the arc to the ILS Rwy 33 (fun!).
As mentioned, I visited the field back in 2015 which made me interested in fixing up the airport. What I didn't know was that 2021 was a good year for the airport in that the field has seen some upgrades over the summer months which were a bonus to get to model. These additions are three run-up pads for runways 15, 22 and 33. Also there are two new taxiways and the removal of the old Taxiway C. All of these have been modeled. The changes are so new that as of this writing in early October 2021 the FAA charts don't yet reflect the changes made over the summer. As such, I got the new taxiway names from the current NOTAM which effectively closed Taxiway C, renamed former B2 to D4 and added a new B2 which connects Taxiway Bravo to runway 4-22. In the scarce images I could find of the construction, there was another taxiway that was being constructed between taxiway B and the GA hangars which doesn't have a name yet in the current NOTAM. Once the name becomes available I will try to remember to come back and add it in.
Notes
- Replaced most of the AI generated buildings with stock models
- Removed Taxiway C and added new Taxiway B2 and the yet to be named new taxiway
- Fixed all Taxiways on the airport (including adding new run-up pads) and updated signage through the entire airport (there are some signs by the run up pads which I can't find a good resolution of what they say, should someone visit the airport, drop me a comment and I will see what I can do to add it in)
- Night lighting has been added where I could find it should be
- Ground markings added for the T's where missing.
- Parking positions renamed and relocated to match some of the logical locations for aircraft (the T's mostly)
- Some static objects were added to make it look more authentic
- Placed some Power Poles and transmission lines where it matched up in other Google Maps pictures. Most follow nearby roads. They should be no factor unless you're really low on left base to Rwy 33.
- 100% hand placed taxiway lights
Installation:
Extract the zip file and place in your community folder.
Updates:
- 10/11/2021 - v.1.0.1 - The official taxiway diagram came out over the weekend and I noticed that the taxiway on the far west end of the field was named D1 next to B1. The original version had B1 continuing on both sides of taxiway B. This update corrects the appropriate D1 taxiway.
As always, enjoy flying in Minnesota!!!
flightdeckswabby
mikekaduce
spidermanMN author
7 months ago
TacticalBacon86
My home airport. I've flown in and out of here I don't even know how many times. Such a HUGE improvement over default. Thanks for taking the time to do this!
spidermanMN author
My pleasure! It appears that Mankato is growing and that's great to see. Glad you're enjoying the updates, especially with the changes that have been in progress. It's nice to hear from people who live nearby. Thanks for commenting!
3 years ago
fly2belgium
thanks so much, fond memories of Mankato!
AMEC1987
Thank you for this. I attended Mankato State for little over one year (Paramedics), and then decided to go back into the Navy. That was way back in 1980. I loved Mankato. Married a girl from nearby Medord. Long since divorced though.
spidermanMN author
Thanks for commenting! Mankato pretty nice city from what I see when we drive through it once or twice a year. Hopefully you can enjoy flying the area in the sim!
3 years ago