Blue Grass Airport (IATA: LEX , ICAO: KLEX , FAA LID: LEX ) is a public airport located in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States, 4 mi (6.4 km) west of the central business district of the City of Lexington. The main terminal building was opened in 1977. The airport covers an area of 911 acres (3.69 km 2 ) and has two runways. It is also home to the Aviation Museum of Kentucky. On April 18 , 2007 , Blue Grass Airport opened up an extension of Concourse B. The extension added six new boarding gates with 4 new jetways.
Airlines and destinations
Concourse B
Concourse C
Future Service
Future
The airport's Master Plan includes a proposal to build a new crosswind runway, 9-27, which would replace the current 8-26. Additional land would need to be acquired to build the runway, and a possible new general aviation area would be built next to it.
Incidents and accidents
- December 5 , 1987 : After suffering an in-flight engine fire en route from Dallas, Texas to New York City, the flight crew of a Hawker Siddeley HS.125 business jet, registration number N400PH , touched down short of the runway while attempting an emergency landing at Blue Grass Airport. The jet crossed a highway and struck an automobile, utility poles, and 2 fences, killing the pilot and co-pilot, and injuring both passengers in the aircraft and 2 people in the automobile. The accident was attributed to the crew's inadvertant retraction of the aircraft's flaps, causing the jet to suddenly lose altitude.
- November 1993: The flight crew of an unidentified commercial jet at Blue Grass Airport was cleared for takeoff on Runway 22 but mistakenly lined up at the shorter Runway 26 instead. Tower personnel noticed the mistake and cancelled the aircraft's takeoff clearance just as the crew realized their error. The aircraft subsequently made a safe departure from Runway 22.
- August 30 , 2002 : A Learjet 35C, registration number N45CP , overran Runway 4 on landing, killing 1 passenger and seriously injuring 4 other occupants of the aircraft. The accident was attributed to the pilot's application of additional forward thrust after failing to properly deploy the jet's thrust reversers.
- August 27 , 2006 : Comair Flight 191 , a Bombardier CRJ-100ER operated by regional carrier Comair on behalf of Delta Connection, overran Runway 26 and crashed after being cleared to take off from the much longer Runway 22. There were 49 fatalities, with the first officer, James Polehinke, being the only survivor.
- March 25 , 2009 : A Cessna 182, registration number N4871N , crashed 3 mi (5 km) west of Blue Grass Airport, killing the pilot and sole occupant. The pilot apparently become disoriented during the landing approach after losing electrical power in densely clouded IFR conditions, but the cause of the crash had not been positively determined as of September 2009.
Fictional Reference
Blue Grass Field was Auric Goldfinger's flight destination in the James Bond film Goldfinger
See also
- Kentucky World War II Army Airfields
References
- Blue Grass Airport (official web site)
- FAA Airport Master Record for LEX ( Form 5010 )
- Kentucky.com article on new dining/retail options
- Kentucky.com article on closing smaller runway to begin building replacement
Notes
- ^ http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Blue-Grass-Airport-Welcomes-prnews-162481124.html?x=0&.v=1
- ^ "Bluegrass Airport Master Plan Update" . http://bluegrassairport.com/LEX_Preferred%20Crosswind%20Runway.pdf . Retrieved 2007-11-02 .
- ^ "NTSB Probable Cause Report ATL88MA053". National Traffic Safety Board . http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X32667&key=1 . Retrieved 2009-09-23 .
- ^ Staff writers ( 1987-12-06 ). "2 Killed, 4 Injured in Kentucky Plane Crash". The Dallas Morning News .
- ^ "NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System report #256788". NASA . http://www.37000feet.com/report/256788 . Retrieved 2008-09-23 .
- ^ "NTSB Probable Cause Report NYC02FA177". National Transportation Safety Board . http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020916X01611 . Retrieved 2006-08-27 .
- ^ "NTSB Preliminary Report ERA09FA215". National Transportation Safety Board . http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20090325X35727&key=1 . Retrieved 2009-09-23 .
- ^ Goldfinger Script - transcript from the screenplay and/or James Bond movie
External links
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF) , effective 19 Nov 2009
- Resources for this airport:
AirNav: KLEX - Blue Grass Airport
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