Floyd Bennett Field - Other Uses

Other Uses

• Since 1993, FBF has hosted a weekly bicycle racing series sponsored by Kissena Cycling Club that continues to attract cyclists from all over the Tri-state Area. The strong prevailing winds and rough pavement make the race challenging, yet it still brings racers to the airfield every Tuesday evening during the summer months.
• The Civil Air Patrol's Floyd Bennett Composite Squadron regularly meets at the former airfield.
• A small portion of the former airfield contains the only overnight campsite in a park within New York City: Ecology Village. It is an environmental education program for students and specially trained teachers in cooperation with the New York City Department of Education. In the summer, the campgrounds are available on a permit basis for non-profit organizations and specially trained and certified adult leaders.
• Since 1995, Floyd Bennett Field has often been the site of the annual Gateway to the Nations - New York City Native American Heritage Celebration organized by the Redhawk Native American Arts Council.
• South section of FBF is home to the 6th Communication Battalion of United States Marine Corps Reserve since July 1997
• After the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 into Belle Harbor in the nearby Rockaway Peninsula on November 12, 2001, one of Floyd Bennett's hangars was used as a makeshift morgue for the crash victims.
• Far from many of the brightest of nearby city lights, the former airfield offers among the best dark sky sites in the five boroughs. The Amateur Astronomers Association of New York meets there one night a month from May to December for observing.
• Concorde G-BOAD was moved by agreement with the Aviator Sports concession to their entertainment complex on Floyd Bennett Field in December 2006 and was on display there for almost two years while the aircraft's regular home, the USS Intrepid, was moved out of its regular dock in Manhattan to be rehabilitated. Concorde's owner, British Airways, wished to see that their historic plane stay on public display in New York City until the Intrepid reopened. The nose cone of the aircraft was knocked off by a truck during an event hosted by the sports center, which cost Aviator a huge amount of money. The modern supersonic Concorde has no historic connection to the airfield.
• The New York Daily News reported on December 14, 2010, that Andrew Murstein was considering a proposal to use the field as a possible site for a NASCAR track. Mr. Murstein is president of Medallion Financial Corp. which owns Richard Petty Motorsports.