Aviation View Magazine | Volume 1, Issue 4

95 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 BRANDYWINE REGIONAL A I RPORT and Education Center is adjacent to the airport on the north, with taxiway access to the runway. Seven people are employed full-time at aircraft repair facilities, and another five are employed by the FBO. Two aviation flight schools employ as many as 12 full and part-time flight instructors. Of interesting note, nearly half are female instructors. Brandywine Flight School offers full-service flight training utilizing modern, well-maintained Cessna and Piper aircraft and offers tailwheel instruction. The school offers primary, advanced, precision and IFR training, as well as proficiency checks, flight reviews, and airplane rentals. The second school, Brandywine Aviation offers full-service flight training in aircraft equipped with advanced glass cockpit technology. “Brandywine Aviation is not your traditional flight school,” says Vassilliou, “we offer a more condensed and focused program with Cirrus Standardized instructors. We also train for a commercial pilot’s license.” then you have the owner-operators that make up most of the field.” The airport began life in 1939 as West Chester Airport, a grass airfield in the countryside outside of the borough, and in 1947, it was purchased by William B. Wilson. The main runway 9/27 was paved in the 1980s and a new terminal building was constructed. In 1982, it was renamed Brandywine Airport and served in a public fashion until 1997 when it was put up for sale. Today, West Chester has a population in the vicinity of 110,000 people in the South East Corner of Pennsylvania. It is the 10th largest city in the state and has grown quite a bit since those rural days of grass airstrips. “Where we are located is both a blessing and a curse,” admits Kassab. “A few years ago, the Director of Aviation for Pennsylvania went on a driving tour of all the airports in the state, and he made the comment that in many cases with small airports you are driving past cornfields, but here you are integrated into a corporate business park. So, we have the good fortune of being in the center of a corporate business park, but we have the misfortune of having nowhere to expand.” Brandywine Airport covers 44 acres and averages more than 60,000 aircraft operations. It sees 98% general aviation and 2% air taxi. 124 aircraft are based at the airport: 85% single-engine, 6% multi-engine, 1% jet, and 8% helicopter. The single runway, 9/27, is 3,347 by 50 feet and is equipped with low-intensity runway lights (LIRL) and a 2-light precision approach path indicator (PAPI). The airport is a small but active hub with a terminal building operated by New Brandywine Aero, Inc., the only Fixed Base Operator on the premises. Aviation maintenance services are provided by Brandywine Aviation and Maintenance and by Brandywine Bonanza Specialists. The American Helicopter Museum