During the 1970's the local municipality prepared a landing strip at the site of the airfield. This was mainly for visits by the senior management of Rembrandt (now British American To***co). Rembrandt at the time owned the cigarette factory that is based in Heidelberg. Rembrandt funded the tarring of the runway in order to accommodate their Falcon jet. The municipality built 3 hangars and a few g
eneral aviation enthusiasts kept microlights and other small aircraft at the airfield. Taking Off
There was little activity for a number of years but this picked up in the mid 1990's. The persons using the airfield formed a formal club and named it the Heidelberg Aviation Association. It was in the mid 90's that the club decided to hold a fly-inn. These fly-inns were successful and became yearly events. In October 1998 a full airshow was held at Heidelberg. The event was well attended with the L29 jet, Harvards, Tiger Moth and other aircraft doing aerobatic displays. All this for an entrance fee of only R 5. There was steady progress with the development of the airfield. Hangars were being built and a microlight training school was established. Electricity and water was laid on in 2002. The runway was re-surfaced. More light aircraft were being hangared at Heidelberg. During 2005 the membership numbers exceeded 50 and is still growing. Still Climbing
The HAA now has a clubhouse with lapa and an ablution block. The airfield is licenced by the CAA and our own dedicated frequency has been approved by Icasa and the CAA. We have permanent security. There are 24 hangars with a further 2 under construction. Over 25 fixed wing, one helicopter and 8 microlights are at Heidelberg. There have been no major incidents since the airfield was established. Only 3 forced landings due to mechanical failure with no injuries. A feature of Heidelberg is the yearly airshow that was attended by over 7 000 people in 2008. A training school uses Heidelberg as base for it's operation.