Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW/KMCW)
The Mason City Municipal Airport is North Iowa’s Gateway to the World. The airport offers easy access, streamlined security, free parking, free terminal Wi-Fi and daily airline service to Chicago on United Express, operated by SkyWest Airlines.
The airport is also the departure point for the infamous "Day the Music Died" flight. On February 3, 1959, a Beechcraft Bonanza piloted by Roger Peterson carrying Rock and Roll idols Buddy Holly, J.P. (Big Bopper) Richardson, and Ritchie Valens, crashed just north of Clear Lake. The singers had performed at the Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom earlier that evening, and had chartered the aircraft to fly them to their next show in Fargo, North Dakota.
