Knowledge you can walk. Read the idea below, then step up to the general, across to peers or down to the specific.
Physical
Pearson Field
Pearson Field is a city-owned airport in Vancouver, Washington, and the oldest continuously operating airfield in the Pacific Northwest.
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The idea
Pearson Field is a small city-owned airport in Vancouver, Washington. It lies about one mile (2 km) southeast of the city's central business district, next to Washington State Route 14 and the Columbia River. It was once also known as Pearson Airpark. The field is used mainly for general aviation. That means private and small planes, not airline or military flights.
Pearson Field is the oldest continuously operating airfield in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the two oldest in the United States. The first aircraft to land there was an airship, and the first airplane did not land until 1911. An airship is a craft that floats because it is lighter than air. Engines push it along and help steer it.
The airfield sits inside the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, just east of the reconstructed fort. In 2012 the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics named it a historic aerospace site. Its single runway lies directly beneath the final approach to runway 10L at nearby Portland International Airport, so two very different kinds of flying share the same stretch of sky.
Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
What kind of aircraft made the 1905 landing that began Pearson Field's history?
Composition
what it's made of
- Single runway — The field's lone runway lies beneath the final approach to runway 10L at Portland International Airport.
- General aviation — Its main use: private and small planes rather than airline flights.
- Historic setting — The field sits inside the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, just east of the reconstructed fort.
- City ownership — It is a municipal airport owned by the city of Vancouver.
- Early aviation history — Its history began with a Baldwin airship landing on the polo grounds of the Vancouver Barracks.
Connection
how it relates
Change
how and why it evolves
- Past
- In 1905, Lincoln Beachey landed a Baldwin airship on the polo grounds of the Vancouver Barracks, the event that began the field's history. In 1925 the field was named after Lt. Alexander Pearson.
- Now
- In the year ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 52,700 aircraft operations, an average of 144 per day. At the end of 2022, 151 aircraft were based there, most of them single-engine planes.
- Next
- The field will likely keep serving small planes, and its home inside a national historic site suggests its long history will stay central to its identity.