Flying Cloud Airport (KFCM) has a rich history serving the community of Eden Prairie, MN. As the home-base of Inflight Pilot Training, we thought we’d share some background on the airport as well as some other information about flying in and out of Flying Cloud Airport. Ready to learn more? Let’s get started!
The Beginning: Serving the War Effort
As the United States ramped up its efforts before entering World War II in 1941, Flying Cloud Airport was built to assist in the training of Navy pilots. In 1937, Martin “Pappy” Grill constructed a landing strip on his small family farm located in Eden Prairie, to serve U.S. Navy Planes stationed at Wold-Chamberlain Field (now Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) to make practice approaches. Not long after the war started, Pappy Grill sold the landing strip to American Aviation Corporation. With an original working name of Southwest Minneapolis Airport, airfield manager John Stuber officially renamed it to Flying Cloud Airport, in homage to local Native American heritage.
Expanding and Improving the Airport
In autumn of 1945, the company put serious work into the 60-acre field, grading it and seeding it, as well as adding two top-of-the-line wooden hangars and administration building. The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), a newly formed aviation agency that was put in charge of metropolitan-area airports, purchased the airport in 1948, who paved the runway the following year. In 1963, MAC built a control tower on the southwest side of the field which assisted in expanding the airport’s safety standards and capacity. By the mid-1960s, Flying Cloud Airport was the second busiest field in the Midwest, second only to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and was ranked ninth busiest in the nation in 1968.
Flying Cloud Airport Today
As the Twin Cities grew, so did the number of airports serving the area. The rest of Pappy Grill’s farmland was sold to the City of Eden Prairie in 1976 for parkland, which serves community members with outdoor recreation. Today, Flying Cloud Airport is still one of the more popular “reliever” airports in the metropolitan system of airports within the Twin Cities, logging approximately 120,000 commercial, government and private operations annually, accommodating the needs of helicopter, piston engine, turboprop and light turbojet aircraft. With three runways, Flying Cloud is classified as a “minor” airport by the Metropolitan Council and is one of six reliever airports in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Aircraft Services and Pilot Amenities at Flying Cloud Airport
Citadel Aircraft Maintenance
Website: https://www.citadelaircraftmx.com
Does your aircraft need service? Citadel Aircraft Maintenance is known as the Twin Cities Cirrus Maintenance experts. Factory-trained technicians are on staff, providing pilots and plane owners with concierge-style aircraft maintenance services. If anything is wrong with your plane, stop by Citadel and you’ll be back in the air in no time.
Inflight Pilot Training and Aircraft Rental
Website: inflightpilottraining.com
The Twin Cities’ premier flight training center is Inflight Pilot Training. Focused on crafting a personal experience, Inflight’s certified flight instructors will help you build and execute a training plan to ensure your success as a pilot. Searching for airplane rentals? Inflight also offers a complete line-up of top-quality planes for affordable rates available at Flying Cloud Airport.
Arriving at Flying Cloud Airport? Come Say Hi to Our Team!
Inflight Pilot Training and our partner Citadel Aircraft Maintenance are proudly based out of Flying Cloud Airport. Whether you need to refresh your pilot certification, get your airplane detailed or checked, or just want to meet some local pilots, our doors are always open. Come say hello!
Get in touch with our team today to find out more about our pilot services at Flying Cloud Airport: Send us a message or call (952) 698-3000.