The Buttonville Municipal Airport, northeast of Toronto, is closing its doors in celebration of its 60th birthday. Buttonville, which has trained thousands of citizens pilots, disappears into the dark side of history at the end of November when it is pushed by land and building development companies.
It is located on the corner of Highway 404 and Markham 16th Avenue, 30 km from downtown Toronto.
The Aviation School of Seneca College used this place as a training ground for 45 years before moving to Peterboro.
After that, the Canadian Flyers College took over and used it, but raises both hands due to lack of income. The closure of Buttonville is a huge disappointment to would-be pilots. Many of the commercial pilots who have worked here now work for airlines such as WestJet, Porter, and Air Canada.
Buttonville was also a base for police planes and ambulances, and many businessmen used it to rush in and out of Toronto.
There are also light airfields in Oshawa and Brampton. Some residents near the airport welcomed the news. In January, a small plane crash-landed on 16th Avenue between Woodbine and 404.
The plane ran off the runway and barely took off. There were no casualties, but residents complained that they were sometimes worried because of the heavy air traffic.
The airfield land was owned by the development company Cadillac-Fairview.