Pearson Field

---

title: "Pearson Field" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1905-establishments-in-washington-(state)", "airports-established-in-1905", "airports-in-washington-(state)", "airports-in-clark-county,-washington", "transportation-buildings-and-structures-in-clark-county,-washington", "transportation-in-vancouver,-washington"] description: "Airport in Vancouver, Washington" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_Field" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Airport in Vancouver, Washington ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox airport"]

Field	Value
name	Pearson Field
image	Pearson Field 1 edit.jpg
IATA
ICAO	KVUO
FAA	VUO
type	Public
owner	City of Vancouver
city-served	Vancouver, Washington
elevation-f	29
elevation-m	9
coordinates
r1-number	8/26
r1-length-f	3,275
r1-length-m	998
r1-surface	Asphalt
stat-year	2022
stat1-header	Aircraft operations
stat1-data	52,700
stat2-header	Based aircraft
stat2-data	151
footnotes	Source: Federal Aviation Administration
::

| name = Pearson Field | image = Pearson Field 1 edit.jpg | IATA = | ICAO = KVUO | FAA = VUO | type = Public | owner = City of Vancouver | operator = | city-served = Vancouver, Washington | location = | elevation-f = 29 | elevation-m = 9 | coordinates = | website = | r1-number = 8/26 | r1-length-f = 3,275 | r1-length-m = 998 | r1-surface = Asphalt | stat-year = 2022 | stat1-header = Aircraft operations | stat1-data = 52,700 | stat2-header = Based aircraft | stat2-data = 151 | footnotes = Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Pearson Field also once known as Pearson Airpark, is a city-owned municipal airport located one mile (2 km) southeast of the central business district of Vancouver, a city in Clark County, Washington, United States.

Pearson Field is the oldest continuously operating airfield in the Pacific Northwest and one of the two oldest continuously operating airfields in the United States, receiving recognition in 2012 as an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics historic aerospace site. Pearson Field's history began with the landing of a Baldwin airship, piloted by Lincoln Beachey, upon the polo grounds of the Vancouver Barracks in 1905. It is located in the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site immediately to the east of the reconstructed fort. Primarily used for general aviation, the airfield's lone runway is located directly beneath the final approach to runway 10L at nearby Portland International Airport. The airport lies adjacent to Washington State Route 14 and the Columbia River.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Goodyear_N3A_blimp_in_June_1973.jpg" caption="The [[Goodyear blimp]] ''Columbia'' N3A, moored at Pearson, June 1973."] ::

Pearson Field's history dates back to the early 1900s and is named for local resident First Lieutenant Alexander Pearson Jr. of the United States Army.

; 1905 : Lincoln Beachey pilots his Baldwin airship from the grounds of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition on the shores of Guild's Lake in Portland, Oregon, to Vancouver Barracks, a distance of approximately 8 miles, in the first aerial crossing of the Columbia River. Beachey also set an endurance record for flight at the time. Carrying a letter from Theodore Hardee, an official of the fair, to the commandant of the Vancouver Barracks, General Constant Williams, the flight is also recognized as the first time an airship is used to deliver a letter. ; 1911 : First airplane lands at Pearson Field. ; 1912 : A homebuilt aircraft built onsite becomes the first aircraft departure. ; 1923–1941 : Pearson Field is home to the US Army Air Service. ; 1923 : Commander Lt. Oakley G. Kelly makes the first non-stop transcontinental flight. ; 1924 : Pearson Field is a stopover point on the army's first round-the-world flight. ; 1925 : Pearson Field is named after Lt. Alexander Pearson by order of Major General John L. Hines. On 16 September 1925, during the inauguration of Pearson Field, in front of 20,000 spectators and against 53 competitor pilots, Edith Foltz won the dead-stick landing competition. ; 1937 : Soviet aviator Valery Chkalov lands at the end of the first non-stop transpolar flight. ; 1975 : Chkalov monument dedicated. ; 1994 : City of Vancouver and National Park Service enter into agreement governing the future of Pearson Field. ; 2005 : Pearson Field celebrates its 100-year anniversary. ; 2012 : Pearson Field receives AIAA historic aerospace site designation. ; 2015 : AIAA monument placed. ; 2016 : Former State Representative John McKibbin, along with Irene Mustain, depart from the field; their plane crashes in the Columbia River.

Facilities and aircraft

Pearson Field covers an area of 82 acre which contains one runway designated 8/26 with a 3,275 × asphalt pavement. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 52,700 aircraft operations, an average of 144 per day: 100% general aviation,

The airfield has a 150 T-hangars and tiedown facilities, with capacity for 175 light aircraft.

Located adjacent to the airfield are the Pearson Air Museum and Aero Maintenance Flight Center, a full service FBO, maintenance station, avionics station, and part 61 and part 141 approved flight school, and the Pearson Field Education Center.

Economic impact

The state of Washington provides economic impact studies of airports within the state. In the 2001 report, Pearson Field contributed about 600 jobs to the area. Salaries drawn in relation to business at Pearson total about US$11 million. The total economic activity related to Pearson totals about US$38 million. There was an updated report in 2012.

Accidents and incidents

• On 28 June 2022, a Beechcraft Bonanza V35B registered N444PM crashed on landing at the airport. The pilot, the sole occupant of the plane, was killed in the crash. The NTSB determined the probable cause to be an aerodynamic stall caused by the pilot continuing on approach and executing a steep turn despite improper positioning of the aircraft in relation to typical approach procedures.

References

References

1. {{FAA-airport
2. [http://gc.kls2.com/airport/KVUO Great Circle Mapper: KVUO - Vancouver, Washington (Pearson Field)]
3. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "Historic Aerospace Site Pearson Field".
4. "Historic Aerospace Sites : The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics".
5. Alley, Bill (2006). ''Pearson Field Pioneering Aviation in Vancouver and Portland''. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN. 978-0-7385-3129-8.
6. (September 2025)
7. Alley, William. (2006). "Pearson Field". Simon & Schuster.
8. "Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937, September 20, 1905, Image 1 « Historic Oregon Newspapers".
9. Alton K Brown. (May 2014). "College Park vs. Pearson Field:Oldest airport debate flies on". aopa.org.
10. General Orders No. 9, J.L. Hines, War Department, May 7, 1925
11. "Edith "Edie" Foltz Stearns".
12. "Pearson Field's standing in aviation history to be recognized | the Columbian".
13. (9 September 2012). "Off Beat: Pearson Field soars past Kitty Hawk in one area of recognition". The Columbian.
14. "Home".
15. (2001). "AIRPORT: Pearson Field (VUO) ASSOCIATED CITY: Vancouver ARC: B-II REGION: Southwest".
16. (2012). "Pearson Field". Washington State Department of Transport.
17. Ranter, Harro. "Loss of control Accident Beechcraft V35B Bonanza N444PM, Tuesday 28 June 2022".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::