Chicago Executive Airport

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Chicago Executive Airport

IATA: PWK – ICAO: KPWK – FAA: PWK
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of Prospect Heights and Village of Wheeling
Serves		Chicago
Location		Wheeling, Illinois
Elevation AMSL		647 ft / 197 m
Coordinates		42°06′51″N 087°54′05″W / 42.11417, -87.90139
Website		www.palwaukee.org
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
6/24	3,660	1,116	Asphalt
12/30	4,386	1,337	Asphalt
16/34	5,000	1,524	Asphalt
Statistics (2005)
Aircraft operations			131,651
Based aircraft			294
Source: FAA^[1] and airport website^[2]

Diagram of Chicago Executive Airport

Chicago Executive Airport (IATA: PWK, ICAO: KPWK, FAA LID: PWK), formerly known as Palwaukee Municipal Airport, is a public airport located 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Chicago, in the village of Wheeling in Cook County, Illinois, United States. This airport is publicly owned by the City of Prospect Heights and the Village of Wheeling.^[1]^[2]

This airport logs over 167,000 take-offs and landings each year and is the third busiest airport in Illinois.^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 Facilities and aircraft
3 Incidents
4 References
5 External links

History

The airport opened in 1925 as Gauthier's Flying Field. The airport was named Pal-Waukee in November 1928. That name was derived from its location near the intersection of Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue. In 1953, the airport was purchased by George J. Priester. He developed the airport over the next 33 years, installing paved runways, lighting, hangars and an air traffic control tower. In 1986, George's son Charlie negotiated the sale of the airport to Wheeling and Prospect Heights, at which time it was renamed Palwaukee Municipal Airport.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Charlie Priester kept an FBO at the airport along with a charter company called Priester Aviation. Priester sold the FBO to Signature Flight Support in 2001, and turned over operational control of Priester Charter to his son Andy in 2004.

In August 2006, trustees from the village of Wheeling and alderman from the City Council of Prospect Heights voted to approve a name change. On October 17, 2006, Palwaukee Municipal Airport was officially renamed Chicago Executive Airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Chicago Executive Airport covers an area of 411 acres (166 ha) which contains three runways:^[1]

Runway 6/24: 3,660 x 50 ft (1,116 x 15 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 12/30: 4,386 x 75 ft (1,337 x 23 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 16/34: 5,000 x 150 ft (1,524 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt

The airport can comfortably handle executive jet aircraft in the 20-seat range, such as the Grumman Gulfstream and the Bombardier Challenger. Larger aircraft occasionally visit the field. Occasional military transport aircraft, such as the Lockheed C-130, use the airport when transporting service members to local military facilities such as Great Lakes Naval Training Center or the North Chicago V.A. Hospital.

For 12-month period ending 09/30/2005 the airport had 131,651 aircraft operations, an average of 360 per day: 91% general aviation (119,325), 9% air taxi (12,287) and <1% military (39).^[1]

There are 294 aircraft based at this airport: 65% single engine (192), 15% multi engine (45), 18% jet aircraft (52) and 2% helicopters (5).^[1]

Major tenants of the airport include two national fixed base operators, Atlantic Aviation and Signature Flight Support, who provide fueling and handling for transient aircraft and a significant portion of the locally based aircraft. Priester Air Charter, Palwaukee Flyers, and several smaller firms and aircraft operators are also present.

In 2007 Chicago Executive's management created a public viewing area east of the south end of Runway 16-34 along Palatine Frontage Road. This area provides parking, a picnic table, bleacher seating and a PA speaker to allow visitors to monitor Air Traffic Control radio communications. A bulletin board provides a copy of the current FAA chart, posters for events and educational information. The area is open to the public 24/7.

Incidents

January 30, 2006, an eight-seat twin engine Cessna 421B with four passengers crashed about one mile (1.6 km) south of the airport. The aircraft was heading from Kansas to Palwaukee. There were no survivors.^[6]