Purdue University Airport (IATA: LAF, ICAO: KLAF, FAA LID: LAF) is a public-use airport in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States. Owned by Purdue University, the airport is 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) southwest of the central business district of Lafayette, in West Lafayette. Because of the heavy traffic generated by Purdue University and its flight programs, Purdue University Airport is one of the busiest airports in Indiana, second only to Indianapolis International Airport.
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 1,959 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 1,518 enplanements in 2009, and 1,405 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation airport. The facility no longer offers scheduled commercial airline service.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY AIRPORT HISTORY
Purdue University Airport was the first university-owned airport in the United States. In 1930, inventor-industrialist David Ross (one of two people for whom Purdue’s Ross–Ade Stadium is named) donated a tract of land to be used as an aeronautical education and research facility at Purdue University. The U.S. government designated Purdue University Airport as an emergency landing strip on 1 November 1930; runway 5-23 was paved later in the 1930s. Amelia Earhart prepared her airplane for her around-the-world flight attempt in Hangar 1 at the airport. Earhart was an adjunct faculty member at the time and the Lockheed Model 10 Electra she flew was purchased for her by the Purdue Research Foundation.
Hundreds of members of the U.S. Army, Navy, and War Training Service were trained at Purdue Airport during World War II, as were several commercial pilots from Latin America. Later, the airport became the home of the first Reserve Officers’ Training Corps flight program (1955).
PURDUE UNIVERSITY AIRPORT LOCATION
PURDUE UNIVERSITY AIRPORT FACTS
Elevation: 606 ft.
Runway length available: 05/23 4226×100 ft. :: 10/28 6600×150 ft.