Essex County Airport

Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey US

For other uses of "Caldwell Airport", see Caldwell Airport.

Essex County Airport

* IATA: CDW
* ICAO: KCDW
* FAA LID: CDW

Summary
Airport type| Public
Owner| Essex County Improvement Authority
Serves| Caldwell, New Jersey
Elevation AMSL| 172 ft / 52 m
Coordinates| 40°52′31″N 074°16′53″W﻿ / ﻿40.87528°N 74.28139°W﻿ / 40.87528; -74.28139
Website| www.FlyCDW.com
Maps

FAA airport diagram
Runways
| Direction | Length  | Surface

|
|

ft  | m
4/22  | 4,552  | 1,387  | Asphalt
10/28  | 3,719  | 1,134  | Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
| Aircraft operations (year ending 9/30/2022)| 90,504

|

Based aircraft| 197

Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Essex County Airport (IATA: CDW[2], ICAO: KCDW, FAA LID: CDW), informally known as Caldwell Airport,[3] is a public use airport located in Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey,[4] 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) north of the central business district of Caldwell, a borough of northwestern Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is owned by the Essex County Improvement Authority.[1] This facility is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation reliever airport.[5]

## History

[edit]

In April 1929 Essex Airport Corporation was formed by Walter Marvin and six other individuals. The intention of the company was to open an airport to serve Montclair, New Jersey, a town seven miles (11 km) away. Some of the early references to the airport have the designation "Marvin Airport", named after Walter Marvin.[6]

In 1999, the airport gained national attention when John F. Kennedy Jr., who based his private aircraft there, crashed hours after departing the airport en route for Martha's Vineyard.[6]

## Facilities and aircraft

[edit]

Essex County Airport main building and tower

Essex County Airport covers an area of 275 acres (111 ha) at an elevation of 172 feet (52 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways with asphalt surfaces: 4/22 is 4,552 by 80 feet (1,387 by 24 m) and 10/28 is 3,719 by 75 feet (1,134 by 23 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022, the airport had 90,504 aircraft operations, an average of 248 per day: 96% general aviation, 2% air taxi, 1% military, and <1% commercial. Around that time there were 197 aircraft based at this airport: 161 single-engine, 19 multi-engine, 7 jets and 10 helicopters.[1]

The weather station reports are commonly identified as "Caldwell".[7][8]

## Airlines and destinations

[edit]

Airlines| Destinations

|

Tropic Ocean Airways |  Seasonal: New York Seaplane Base

## Accidents and incidents

[edit]

* On August 29, 1982, a Cessna 172 carrying a flight instructor and student pilot collided with a Cessna 150 flown by a student pilot. The control tower did not have a radar system installed at the time and had instructed the Cessna 172 to fly an overhead entry to the traffic pattern while the Cessna 150 was on its downwind leg. The resulting collision sheared a wing off of the Cessna 172 and the ensuing crash resulted in the death of both occupants. The pilot of the other aircraft made a forced landing at the airport and skidded off the runway with the plane coming to rest on its nose.[9][10]
* On November 15, 2002, a Mooney M10 and a Piper PA-32R-300 collided in the traffic pattern while maneuvering at night for an approach to runway 22. The pilots of both planes were killed in the crash that followed.[11]
* On January 15, 2007, a Beechcraft A36 Bonanza in night IMC conditions impacted trees on a ridgeline while on approach to the airport. During at the start of its approach, the aircraft was 200 feet below the published minimum descent altitude for the instrument approach procedure and over the next 1.5 miles descended at a 7-degree angle and a 945-feet-per-minute rate of descent, resulting in controlled flight into terrain. Upon hitting trees, the plane flipped over, landed in a street and burst into flames, killing the pilot.[12]
* On July 5, 2010, a Cirrus SR-22 crashed on its approach for landing about 100 yards North of the airport. All three passengers on board were killed in the crash and ensuing fire.[13]
* On August 15, 2015, shortly after takeoff from runway 22, the pilot of a Cessna 205 reported that he was unable to maintain power and attempted a turn back towards the airport. The airplane descended, impacted wooded terrain and was partially consumed by the post-impact fire, killing the pilot.[14][15]
* On February 17, 2022, a Cessna Citation CJ3 crashed off the end of Runway 22 into a drainage brook. No injuries among the 3 occupants were reported.[16][17]

## See also

[edit]

* New Jersey portal
* Aviation portal

* List of airports in New Jersey
* List of airports in the New York City area
* Transportation in New York City

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Form 5010 for CDW PDF. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective September 7, 2023.
2. ^ "IATA Airport Code Search (CDW: Caldwell)". International Air Transport Association. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
3. ^ "Essex County Airport (Welcome Page)". Essex County Improvement Authority. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
4. ^ "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Fairfield township, NJ" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved November 23, 2024. "Essex County Arprt"
5. ^ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF). faa.gov. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF, 2.03 MB) on September 27, 2012.
6. ^ a b Santiago, Katherine (June 21, 2009). "Historic Essex County Airport has a lofty past". The Star-Ledger. Newark. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
7. ^ "Weather observations for the past three days, Caldwell, Essex County Airport". National Weather Service. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
8. ^ "Average Weather For Caldwell, New Jersey, USA". WeatherSpark.com. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
9. ^ "Judge Blames Air Controller In Fatal Jersey Crash". The New York Times. December 15, 1985. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
10. ^ Times, Lindsey Gruson, Special To The New York (August 30, 1982). "Midair Collision Near An Airport In Jersey Kills 2". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 1, 2017.`{{cite news}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident 15-NOV-2002 Mooney M10 N9502V". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
12. ^ "NTSB Aviation Accident Data Summary for Accident Number NYC07FA056".
13. ^ "Three killed in small plane crash near Essex County Airport in Fairfield". NJ.com. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
14. ^ "Pilot dies in plane crash, fire near Essex County Airport". New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV. August 15, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
15. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident 15-AUG-2015 Cessna T206H Turbo Stationair N63TV". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
16. ^ https://eccycnj.org/3-walk-away-from-small-jet-crash-at-essex-county-nj-airport-new-jersey-101-5-fm/
17. ^ https://demonracer2.smugmug.com/2022-Fires/Fairfield-Plane-Crash-4-17-22

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Essex County Airport.

* Official website
* Essex County Airport (CDW) from New Jersey DOT Airport Directory
* Aerial image as of April 1995 from USGS The National Map
* FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective July 10, 2025
* FAA Terminal Procedures for CDW, effective July 10, 2025
* Resources for this airport:
* FAA airport information for CDW
* AirNav airport information for KCDW
* ASN accident history for CDW
* FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
* NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
* SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures

* v
* t
* e

Aviation in the New York metropolitan area

See also: List of airports in New York

Major commercial airports|

* John F. Kennedy
* LaGuardia
* Newark Liberty

Secondary commercial airports|

* Long Island MacArthur
* Stewart
* Trenton–Mercer
* Westchester County

General aviation airports|

* Bayport
* Brookhaven
* Danbury
* East Hampton
* Essex County
* Gabreski
* Hudson Valley
* Linden
* Lufker
* Mattituck
* Monmouth
* Montauk
* Morristown
* Old Bridge
* Randall
* Republic
* Sands Point
* Sikorsky
* Teterboro

Heliports|

* Downtown
* East 34th Street
* Haverstraw
* Southampton
* West 30th Street

Transportation|

* AirTrain JFK
* AirTrain Newark
* AirTrain LaGuardia (cancelled)

Agency|

* Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

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