• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
General Aviation News

General Aviation News

Because flying is cool

  • Pictures of the Day
    • Submit Picture of the Day
  • Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Products
    • NTSB Accidents
    • ASRS Reports
  • Comments
  • Classifieds
    • Place Classified Ad
  • Events
  • Print Archives
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search

General aviation airports — not just for GA

By General Aviation News Staff · August 29, 2018 ·

Regular contributor Larry Stencel sent in this brief story about how general aviation airports are not just for GA: “During a widespread severe weather event in central Wisconsin west of Oshkosh on Aug. 28, 2018, two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the Army National Guard 2nd Battalion, 238th Aviation Regiment at Shelbyville, Indiana, elected to make a precautionary landing at the Wautoma Municipal Airport (Y50) in Wisconsin.

On a training mission to the Twin Cities, the crews decided to land and wait out the storm front.

A local pilot heard their out-of-the-ordinary calls on his home radio and drove to the unattended airport to see if they needed help and to open the airport up for them.

Leaving an hour later, weather forced them to turn back to Y50.

After arranging for security for the helicopters, he saw to it that the crews were transported to lodging and dinner. The appreciative crews were able to depart the next day.

Share this story

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Become a better informed pilot.

Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Curious to know what fellow pilots think on random stories on the General Aviation News website? Click on our Recent Comments page to find out. Read our Comment Policy here.

© 2026 Flyer Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Comment Policy
  • Submit Press Release
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Writer’s Guidelines
  • Photographer’s Guidelines