Kraków 2011-01-10
Airport renaissance. 2003.
Geographic coordinates: 50.078N 19.992E.
Since 2003, planes take off and land from Czyżyny airport again. Only occasionally, but always. The western part of the runway was renovated and certified to accept light aircraft and helicopters up to 7,500 kg. The runway was 720 m x 60 m.
The inaugural landing, after a long break, took place in 2003, during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Museum. Wojciech Ochocki, a pilot from the Aeroclub of Krakow, landed in Czyżyny in a PZL Wilga plane, followed by two planes of the "Grupa Żelazny" aerobatic team.
It must be admitted that the RWY located in the MLP area is perfect for receiving small planes and helicopters. Czyżyny are included in the AIP register, indicating the place of landing. Czyżyny cannot be included in the register of airports, because there are no devices for servicing airplanes and helicopters. It is treated as "other" take-off and landing sites. In addition, there is a lot of space for stands for these aircraft. It is true that the offer is addressed to businessmen, but it always involves leaving money in Krakow. Maintaining the airstrip in the heart of the city seems justified. There is no point in dreaming about passenger traffic, especially since there is a high-voltage power line on the eastern side of the existing RWY, about 150 meters in front of the threshold. And most importantly, the landing pad does not have any devices to assist the pilot during landing. The safety of operations is the responsibility of the Museum, which has appropriate instructions and procedures.
Pilots (businessmen) using Czyżyny airport act as follows. Before departure, they obtain the consent of the museum management and report the flight to the airport tower in Balice, which manages this airspace. They then receive appropriate instructions. It is especially important not to disturb passenger planes building a landing maneuver at the airport in Balice. The security of the belt is ensured by the employees of the Museum. Few pilots using Czyżyny appreciate this possibility. They claim that there are long procedures in Balice, and therefore a lot of time is lost. To this you have to add the travel time to the center of Krakow. Pobiednik airport is also far from the city center. There is usually a taxi waiting for pilots-businessmen and they quickly reach their destination. Some say that settling matters in Krakow in this way does not take even one hour.
It should be added that pilots use the RWY in Czyżyny at their own risk. For now, no fees are charged for using RWY, in order to encourage more pilots. If the number of operations is systematically growing, it is necessary to think about developing infrastructure for handling small aircraft, for example; refueling, getting weather information and more.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman