Rider Jet Center Serves A Mixed Aircraft Fleet

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland—Even in Maryland’s rural Cumberland Valley, 70 mi. northwest of Washington, D.C., you are close to the levers of power.

That is the impression one has on arriving at Hagerstown Regional Airport (HGR) near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, 20 mi. west of the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. Airside of Rider Jet Center at HGR, one sees a Cessna Citation parked near a Beechcraft King Air 350ER with a distinctive, dome-shaped radome—denoting the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS). 

“This airport is the closest runway to Camp David, and the trauma hospital for Camp David is the Hagerstown hospital—Meritus Medical Center,” says Tom Riford, Rider Jet Center vice president. “We get a lot of presidential flights, cabinet member flights and both helicopter and fixed-wing PAT [priority air transport] flights in and out of here.”

With a 7,000-ft. main runway (9/27) served by an instrument landing system at both ends, HGR reputedly is second only to Baltimore-Washington International Airport for offering Maryland’s longest runway surface. A second runway—2/20—is 3,165 ft. in length. 

Owned by Washington County, Maryland, HGR is classified by the FAA as a non-hub primary airport with scheduled service to Orlando and St. Petersburg, Florida, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, by LCC Allegiant Air. It has an FAA contract tower staffed by Midwest Air Traffic Control Service that operates from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The airport handles around 38,000 annual aircraft operations (takeoffs and landings).

Privately owned Rider Jet Center, HGR’s sole fixed-based operator (FBO), is an Avfuel-branded company that fuels both business and military aircraft as well as Allegiant Air narrowbody airliners. The fleet mix reflects both HGR’s proximity to Washington and its legacy as a production site for military aircraft. Fairchild Republic built the A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the Warthog, here from the mid-1970s to 1984. 

The late David Rider, a Hagerstown native, pilot, builder and philanthropist whose father worked for Fairchild Aircraft, built the jet center and six hangars at HGR, opening the FBO under his name in 2003. His son, Ben, now leads the company as owner, president and CEO.

Ben Rider has continued his father’s charitable streak and community outreach, making hangar and ramp space available for “Hangarfest,” an annual fundraiser benefitting Breast Cancer Awareness-Cumberland Valley and an annual Aviation Education & Career Expo. The latter event is the largest such career expo in the mid-Atlantic region, says Riford, who previously served as Maryland assistant secretary of commerce for tourism, film and the arts during the administration of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

In July 2024, Ben Rider purchased Eagle Air Aviation, a Part 135 charter and organ transportation operator based at Capital City Airport in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, near the state capitol Harrisburg. Earlier this year, Eagle Air announced the acquisition of a third Cessna Citation CJ2 light twinjet. The company also operates an Airbus H135 (Eurocopter EC135) twin-engine light helicopter.

Rider co-owns South Mountain Aviation, an aircraft maintenance and avionics company based at Rider Jet Center that recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. The company specializes in maintaining light and very light jets and was working toward becoming a Part 145 certified repair station.

Defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) has occupied hangar space at Rider Jet Center since 2007 and is the FBO’s largest and longest present tenant. SNC supports the EMARSS program and is increasing its workforce in Hagerstown after winning the Army’s High-Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System contract in August 2024 to modify Bombardier Global 6500s for high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

“SNC is doing critical work to support the security of the U.S. and its allies,” says Rider, commenting on SNC’s expansion in a statement. “We are immensely proud of our longstanding relationship with the company and to have been a part of its growth story over the last 18 years.”

Another tenant, Air Methods’ subsidiary LifeNet 8-1, in 2025 marked its 15^th year at Rider Jet Center. During that time, the helicopter air ambulance company serving Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania and West Virginia has transported more than 7,500 patients to lifesaving care.