Sebastian Municipal Airport — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian Municipal Airport is the general aviation field owned and operated by the City of Sebastian, identified on charts as X26.

The city airport page places it on the northwest side of Sebastian in Indian River County, on the east coast of Florida between Vero Beach and Melbourne, and describes it as serving primarily small personal and corporate aircraft. It has no airline service. Travelers on scheduled flights use larger fields nearby; AirNav, which republishes FAA data, lists Vero Beach Regional Airport 10 nautical miles southeast and Treasure Coast International Airport 20 nautical miles south of X26.

The Sebastian field is a public-use airport, not a private strip. The FAA Aeronautical Information Services record for X26, effective October 1, 2026, lists the facility as open to the public, names the City of Sebastian at 1225 Main Street as owner (the Sebastian City Hall address), and records no landing fee. The airport office sits in the Airport Administration Building at 202 Airport Drive East, according to the city's Pilot's Information page.

The City of Sebastian owns the airport under a 1959 federal deed and runs it as a city department reporting to the City Manager.

Ownership traces to a federal property transfer. The city Airport History states that the U.S. Navy built the field in 1943 as Roseland Satellite Field, a naval flight training station of about 1,025 acres, and that the War Assets Administration transferred it to the City of Sebastian on January 29, 1959. AirNav lists the activation date as 04/1959. The deed carries a lasting string: the property must be used without unfair discrimination solely for aviation purposes, and it reverts to the United States if Sebastian fails to comply. Since 1959 the city has maintained and operated the airport. Sebastian Municipal Airport now covers 620 acres (City of Sebastian).

Inside city government the field is not a separate authority. The history page states that the airport is directly regulated by the City of Sebastian and is a department of the city under the City Manager, so airport leases, grant agreements and budgets go to the Sebastian City Council for approval. As of October 11, 2026, the Pilot's Information page lists two staff roles: an Airport Director who also serves as City Engineer, and an Airport Superintendent. The Sebastian field is attended Monday through Friday from 0800 to 1700 (FAA). Not all of the 620 acres are runway and ramp: the history page states that the Sebastian Municipal Golf Course was built in 1981 on a 155-acre plot occupying a large portion of airport property. Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.

Sebastian Municipal Airport (X26) has two asphalt runways, 05/23 at 4,023 feet and 10/28 at 3,199 feet, with GPS approaches, an on-field weather station and self serve fuel.

The FAA record lists two asphalt runways at Sebastian. Runway 05/23 measures 4,023 feet by 75 feet, its surface rated excellent, with medium intensity edge lights, runway end identifier lights at both ends and non-precision instrument markings. Runway 10/28 measures 3,199 feet by 75 feet, its surface rated fair, with basic markings and no runway end identifier lights. Both runways carry 2-light PAPI glide path lights. Field elevation at Sebastian Municipal Airport is 21.5 feet (FAA). The October 2026 FAA data carries an active construction notice for the Sebastian airport (FAA).

The city says the FAA activated RNAV (GPS) approaches to Runways 5 and 23, which lets aircraft use Sebastian in poor weather. Weather comes from an on-field AWOS-3PT on 118.125 MHz, and pilots coordinate on CTAF 123.05 MHz because, per the FAA, there is no air traffic control tower at the airport. On the ground, the city infrastructure list records a 24/7 self serve aviation gas system next to the Airport Administration Building on the southeast ramp, 40 T-hangars, an ADS-B ground station and perimeter fencing with eight electric gates. Sebastian sells 100LL aviation fuel (FAA). AirNav lists minor airframe and powerplant service at X26 (AirNav).

Who uses the field is spelled out in the city history page. Local flight training greatly increased operations at Sebastian in the mid to late 1980s, the airport also accommodates recreational activity, and the city estimates that 10 percent of its annual general aviation operations are business related.

Sebastian controls who gets onto the airfield, while flight rules over the city come from the FAA plus a set of voluntary local procedures.

Access to the Sebastian airfield is controlled. The city General Information page states that ID badges are required for all personnel needing regular access, that personal vehicles must display an airport access sticker issued by the Sebastian Police Department, and that no one may bring firearms of any type onto airport property without specific approval and licenses. Cameras on all sections of the airport record around the clock. The same page states that after the Florida Legislature passed Section 403.4115, F.S., in 2025, covering reporting of geoengineering and weather modification on public infrastructure, Sebastian Municipal Airport is in compliance.

Flight rules split between federal law and voluntary local practice. The city Flight Procedures page asks pilots, on a voluntary basis, to keep air operations between 0700 and 2100 daily, to hold touch and go practice to Monday through Saturday from 0900 to 1700 with none on Sunday, to avoid intersection takeoffs and to climb at best rate of climb to 1,000 feet, and it treats all quadrants of the Sebastian field as noise sensitive. The same page warns that skydive operations occur seven days a week year round, with the general parachute landing zone in the northwest quadrant north of Runway 10. The city Noise Issues page states that Sebastian Municipal Airport does not control or direct aircraft flying in and out. Complaints about low flying aircraft over Sebastian neighborhoods are an FAA matter handled through the Orlando Flight Standards District Office.

The Sebastian airport is built mostly with state and federal grants matched by smaller city shares.

In July 2012, Vero News reported a $164,400 Sebastian runway marking and apron project split three ways: $148,000 from the FAA, $8,200 from the Florida Department of Transportation and $8,200 from the city, about 5 percent. Hangars followed the same model. In August 2010, Vero News reported that the city accepted a $1.16 million FDOT grant for a hangar and moved $290,000 from its discretionary sales tax fund to the airport fund as the match, with the tenant signing a 15 year lease at $2 per square foot.

The approach carried into later projects. In December 2018, Sebastian Daily reported that Hangar D would cost $2.25 million, backed by a $1 million state grant and a 20 percent match from the city, and would provide 20,000 square feet for aircraft manufacturing and offices. The city lists Hangar D as completed in summer 2023. In May 2017, Sebastian Daily reported a 20 year deal with Czech Sport Aircraft expected to bring Sebastian about $45,000 a year, and that the company chose the field partly because it has no control tower. The Sebastian council also declines money it does not need: in September 2011, Vero News reported that the Sebastian City Council voted unanimously to terminate a $285,000 FAA master plan grant after a supplemental update had covered the northwest conservation area and the buffer along Roseland Road.

Businesses lease, rather than buy, land at Sebastian Municipal Airport: the city offers over 80 acres for aviation and non-aviation uses on terms of up to 30 years, with rates quoted by the Airport Director.

The 1959 deed is why the land is leased and not sold, and the city turns that into a pitch. Its Leasing Information page says leasing property at the airport allows businesses to focus their money on their facility rather than on buying land. The page does not publish a price list: it tells applicants to contact the Airport Director for availability and rates, and the airport reception desk at 202 Airport Drive East answers at 772-228-7001. On request the city sends an electronic leasing package covering Airport Rules and Regulations, Minimum Standards for Aeronautical Services, General Provisions, Developmental Guidelines, and Lease Rates and Charges (City of Sebastian).

The eastside sites have a history. The city economic development page states that since 2010 the Sebastian airport has built four large commercial hangars on the east side of the field next to the terminal building, and that work began in early 2015 on a complete renovation of the eastside entrance road, a project that added sites for small business buildings. The same page says improved sites are ready to build on, subject to the permitting process and Sebastian City Council approval, and that tax incentives are available from both the City of Sebastian and Indian River County.

The city backs the pitch with state numbers. An August 2021 Florida Department of Transportation report on general aviation airports credited Sebastian Municipal Airport with total employment of 281, a total payroll of $16.1 million and an economic impact of $54.2 million (City of Sebastian).

Since 2022 the Sebastian airport has added west side utilities, three hangars, a rebuilt main runway and the new Taxiway Golf, according to the city infrastructure list.

The Sebastian infrastructure list shows a steady run of work over the past four years: water and sewer extensions on the west side that eliminated septic systems, completed October 2022; remarking of Runway 10-28 and Taxiway Bravo, completed March 2023; rehabilitation of Runway 5-23 with new LED lighting and REILs under an FDOT and FAA grant, completed summer 2024; three new 60 by 60 foot hangars on the west side under an FDOT grant, completed May 2025; and the new Taxiway Golf on the north side of the field, completed January 2026.

Planning for the next phase is set out in the city Master Plan page, which posts the current plan, updated in 2018, in nine chapters from inventory and forecasts to an airport layout plan and a financial plan. The Sebastian history page sets a goal of an on-site corporate industrial park and more hangars on the 143 acres gained by closing Runway 13/31, and notes that about 25 percent of based aircraft are owned by local businesses.