Jackson Jambalaya

So who uses Hawkins Field anymore? Air Force, UPS, and some dare devil pilots??

@11:36, an Army National Guard aviation unit uses the airport for their Blackhawks, not the Air Force you jackwagon. Hawkins is still a serviceable airfield, but just like everything else in Jackson the whites abandoned it and refuse to support it cause its not managed by Republicans.

A lot of Jackson area businesses use Hawkins as an executive airport.

HAHA 12:28, you're funny. It wouldn't be funny, though, if I thought you really believed that.

I'm pretty sure the crime-infested, dilapidated areas one must go through to get there - from any direction - have nothing to do with the airport's decline
It most certainly MUST be due to the race of the airport's managing personnel. That makes the most amount of sense. I

So much ignorance in these comments. It takes less than a minute from the interstate to get to the turnoff to Hawkins field. Except for a couple of hundred yards of houses, the area is industrial. Golf Course is across the street as is the backside of the zoo.

The manager is white. It has a 5,300 foot runway and a control tower. It's used by quite a few pilots and aviation enthusiasts.

The problem with Hawkins is not Republicans either. Dirk didn't give a damn about it and let it wither on the vine for years. It went without a manager for nine years until Mr. Newman was hired. He hired a manager for the place and they are making improvements. They got rid of all the junk airplanes at the south fence, repaved the apron and the alternate runway.

KF is spot on. I've flown in and out of Hawkins for many years with rented planes and excellent private pilots for business trips. If Jackson wants to do something right, it should invest in the airport, develop it, attract some small air carrier services to run regular flights out of there to local hubs like NOLA, Memphis, Atlanta, etc. I think the business community would use it if they knew the convenience and comparable cost when compared to the commercial carriers at the big airport in Rankin County.

Meanwhile, other local small airports such as Ridgeland and Raymond continue to keep their doors and runways open so they must be doing something right. I've frequently flown in and out of those airports, too.

We need to stop tucking our tails between our legs and running screaming for the suburbs every time we are offended by poor people (i.e. black people). I know it will shock the Republican snowflakes who inhabit this site but yes, there are still a few of us successful, professional white people who care about Jackson and want to see it made better. The airport would be a good place to start.

Our practice has used that airport on several occasions - easy in, easy out. Would love to see more traffic there, and the old terminal restored as well. It's so much easier for private flights than going out to Rankin County.

I have picked up projectiles from rifles and pistols off of the tarmac there, most common after holidays and the celebratory firing of the gatts (am I saying that right?). The flight school had a pretty impressive array of projectiles on the counter. It is a great little airport and I miss the cheeseburgers from Mrs. Hankins.

I kept my plane there in a hangar for twenty years until 2011. Access is easy and good folks to get fuel from. Hope they keep it up well and open the old terminal.

I've flown on a couple of chartered flights out of Hawkins in recent months. It's a great little airport and I hope they have improvements on the horizon.

An issue that some of my plane owner friends have complained about in the past is that in Jackson, the city property taxes are a lot higher at Hawkins than they are in Madison and Raymond (same thing as car tags). Don't think there's an easy fix for that one, but the convenience may make up for the higher bill.