Naval Air Station Kingsville

Naval Air Station Kingsville
IATA: NQI – ICAO: KNQI - FAA: NQI
Summary
Airport type Naval Air Station
Operator United States Navy
Location Kleberg County, near Kingsville, Texas
Built July 4, 1942
In use Active
Commander CAPT Philip L. Waddingham
Elevation AMSL 50 ft / 15 m
Coordinates 27°30′26″N 97°48′35″W / 27.50722°N 97.80972°W / 27.50722; -97.80972
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
13L/31R 8,000 2,438 PEM
13R/31L 8,000 2,438 PEM
17L/35R 8,000 2,438 PEM
17R/35L 8,000 2,438 PEM
A T-45 Goshawk training aircraft painted in pre-World War II tactical colors--in celebration of the Centennial of Naval Aviation--flies over the Naval Air Station in Kingsville

Naval Air Station Kingsville or NAS Kingsville (IATA: NQI, ICAO: KNQI, FAA LID: NQI) is a military airport located 3 miles east of Kingsville, Texas.

Under the current US Navy organization known as Commander, Naval Installations (CNI), NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Kingsville are part of Navy Region Southeast headquartered at NAS Jacksonville, Florida. Both facilities were previously under the since-disestablished Navy Region South, where the rear admiral serving as Region Commander and as Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) were the same individual.

NAS Kingsville’s operation is the natural complement of NAS Corpus Christi. NAS Kingsville operates higher performance single engine aircraft, generally over land. Distance, rather than safety or capacity concerns, limits NAS Kingsville use of overwater areas.

TA-4J Skyhawk of TW-2.

NAS Kingsville also organizes and hosts the annual Wings Over South Texas Air Show.

Current operations

Naval Air Station Kingsville is one of the U.S. Navy’s premier locations for jet aviation training. The naval air station’s primary mission is to train Student Naval Aviators for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps and tactical jet pilots for other select NATO and Allied countries. To accomplish its mission, NAS Kingsville is home to Training Air Wing TWO and several tenant commands, military as well as civilian, with a total complement of approximately 300 officers, 200 enlisted, 350 civilian personnel, and 625 contract maintenance personnel. The wing was the first in the Navy to operate the Boeing T-45 Goshawk aircraft, providing a single carrier-capable aircraft to replace the North American Rockwell T-2 Buckeye and the McDonnell Douglas TA-4 Skyhawk II in the Navy's strike pilot training pipeline. Originally equipped with the T-45A model of the Goshawk, the wing began accepting new production T-45C model aircraft in 2005, which replaces the earlier T-45A aircraft's analog cockpit with a digital or "glass" cockpit similar to what students will find when they transition to operational fleet combat aircraft. All T-45A aircraft at NAS Kingsville are slated to be retrofitted and upgraded to a T-45C configuration under the T-45 Required Avionics Modernization Program (T-45 RAMP), with a select number of RAMP modified aircraft slated for transfer to Training Air Wing SIX at NAS Pensacola, Florida in support of Student Naval Flight Officer training under the Undergraduate Military Flight Officer (UMFO) program.

NAS Kingsville is also home to two United States Army Reserve units: Detachment 1, 370th Transportation Company (Medium Truck Palletized Load System) and Company F (MEDEVAC), 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment.

The NAS Kingsville Operations Department operates the airfield and provides services to support operations of activity, tenant, and transiting aircraft; provides firefighting functions, both structural and fire and rescue; provides air traffic control; operates air terminal; schedules administrative and proficiency flights; repairs and maintains station ground electronics equipment; stores, maintains, and issues assigned ordnance and munitions; operates firing ranges; operates aerial targets, bombing ranges, and auxiliary landing fields. NAS Kingsville also has both Military and Civilian security which man the entry control points and conduct vehicle inspections and patrols.

Tenant Units

References

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