Minute Man Air Field is a public-use airport located at 302 Boxboro Road, Stow, Massachusetts, United States. The airport is privately owned by Minute Man Airfield, Inc. Started as a 1700 ft grass landing strip known as Erikson Field in 1963 by local pilots, the airport was purchased by Paul McPherson in 1966. Paul and his son, Don, paved and extended the 2000 foot runway, added a parallel taxiway, tie-downs for 50 planes, installed AVGAS pumps and constructed the Operations Building. The former grass strip was re-opened as Minute Man Air Field on July 1, 1969. Paul's wife and daughter also opened a small coffee shop on the field called "Peg's Place" later on. Over the decades, the airport has added aircraft maintenance and storage hangars, a runway extension, a second "cross-wind" runway, and aircraft parking aprons. In the early 1990s, 100 acres of land, was added to the field's land holdings instead of becoming a housing development. The open space is being farmed and serves as home to many species of wildlife. This acreage has recently been sold and is the site of a proposed 55+ "active adult" neighborhood consisting of 60+ housing units. Minute Man now has a 2800-foot paved-lighted-instrumented runway and a 1600-foot gravel-visual runway. The airfield is home to more than 60 based aircraft including 3 helicopters stored in four hangars and on tie-downs along the taxi-ways and aprons. In addition to Nancy's Air Field Café, reputed as a fly-in or drive-in destination for fine food and friendly service, the airport is home to numerous other businesses. The airport is still owned and operated by Don McPherson, and the operations are overseen by a board of Airport Commissioners. The Board is made up of local business, government, and aviation professionals who voluntarily serve as Commissioners.
Facilities and aircraft
Minute Man Air Field covers an area of which contains two runways:
Runway 3/21: 2,770 x 48 ft, Surface: Asphalt
Runway 12/30: 1,600 x 70 ft, Surface: Turf/Gravel
For 12-month period ending 08/01/2009 the airport had 48,095 aircraft operations, an average of 132 per day: 99% general aviation, <1% air taxi and <1% military. There are 67 aircraft based at this airport: 60 single engine, 1 multi engine, 3 helicopters and 3 ultralight. The runway was repaved in the summer of 2015. The work also included removing a small hill which was a danger to people in airplanes landing from the south.
Flight School
Aptis Aviation is a part 61 flight school based on Minute Man Air Field. They are the only flight school on the airport, and have been in business since November 2014 taking over after Noble Airventures left the field. They operate 5 rental planes, 3 club planes, and one simulator. The school is staffed with 2 full-time instructors, and a few part-time instructors. Their Chief Flight Instructor, Devan Wiebe, earned the FAA Gold Seal Flight Instructor Certificate in August 2015. In addition to offering Private, instrument, and commercial instruction, Aptis Aviation can facilitate the training required to obtain the Tail Wheel and Complex aircraft endorsements. Two ground schools are run through the school, one geared towards private pilot students and one for instrument students. These classes run on request of the students provided there is enough demand.
