Dexter Regional Airport: A welcoming place to land in Maine

By Ted Luebbers

While flying around central Maine’s lush countryside looking for a place to top off your fuel, consider the Dexter Regional Airport (1B0), three miles east of downtown Dexter.

When my wife Joan and I are in Maine for the summer escaping Florida’s heat and humidity, we often drive around the state looking for rural grass airstrips that are unknown by some pilots, or vintage aircraft hidden away in a hangar.

 We are also interested in aircraft building projects under construction or completed that we can photograph and expose to the general aviation community.

When we find these aeronautical gems, we write a photo journalistic story about the discovery of the day.

On July 17, while negotiating the county roads of central Maine we discovered the Dexter Regional Airport. It was nestled among the gently rolling hills of western Penobscot and southern Piscataquis Counties. This is an area of farms growing things such as potatoes, corn, berries, and other produce. The area also has large tracts of forests, as well as lakes and rivers. No wonder they call Maine “Vacationland.”

The Dexter Regional Airport provides two runways, one is asphalt and the other grass. The asphalt runway, (16/34), is 3,008 by 75 feet and the turf strip, (7/25), is 1,249 by 120 feet. There is a large ramp area adjacent to the self-serve fuel farm and the diminutive but functional FBO.

The fuel available is 91 octane non ethanol Mogas and the other is 100 LL Avgas. Just ground the plane, dig out your credit card, and start pumping.

This non-towered airport uses the CTAF frequency of 122.8 MHZ.

If you Google the Dexter Regional Airport you will find they have several webcams operating 24/7. One of them will give you the time, temp, wind speed, and direction as well as gusts.

Inside the small FBO you will find bathroom facilities, a computer to check your favorite weather app and general information about the area.

This is a public airport owned and operated by the city of Dexter. On my visit I was lucky enough to run into Ron Apel, a member of the airport committee, a pilot and owner of a Piper PA 28 RT. He mentioned that the airport was built in WWII as an axillary field to Dow Field, a US Army Air Force Base in nearby Bangor, now known as Bangor International Airport (KBGR).

There are no aircraft repair services at DRA but the Bangor International Airport is only 21 miles away to the southeast.

Ron said there are 22 hangars here and about 22 permanently stored aircraft. Looking at the long-range plan there seems to be plenty of room for new hangars when the time comes.

Speaking of long-range plans, they recently received a $760,000 Federal Aviation Administration grant to construct a new Terminal/ FBO building.

On Aug. 6 the airport bands together with the local Kiwanis Club to hold a Cruise-In and Fly-In called “Wheels and Wings” to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It will be on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The rain date will be Sunday, Aug. 8, from 12 to 4 p.m. Lots to see and eat.

Someday when you are boring holes in the sky in Central Maine and looking for a new experience, drop in for a visit to the Dexter Regional Airport. If you need local transportation call Road Runners Taxi at 207-270-2927 or Dexter Cab at 207-924-3700.