Indianapolis Executive Airport is a public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

at 11329 E. State Road 32, five miles north of Zionsville, in

Boone County, Indiana Boone County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 70,812. The county seat is Lebanon. History In 1787, the fledgling United States defined the Northwest Territory, which included the area of present-day Ind ...

, United States. The airport is owned by the Hamilton County Airport Authority. It is northwest of downtown

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and is a

reliever airport A relief airport or reliever airport is an airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport(s) requires additional capacity, on a long-term or temporary basis. Reliever ...

for

Indianapolis International Airport Indianapolis International Airport is an international airport located southwest of Downtown Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority, and the airport serves over 5 ...

. In 2020, the airport was categorized as a "National" airport in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

. Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer program ...

for the FAA and for

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

, but Indianapolis Executive Airport is TYQ to the FAA and has no IATA code. It was formerly Terry Airport .

History

Campbell Aviation began developing Indianapolis Executive Airport (TYQ) as Terry Airport in 1957 with a

bituminous Bitumen ( , ) is an immensely viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition, it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American English, the m ...

runway configured in a north–south direction and a turf runway configured in a northeast–southwest direction. It was certified by the State of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

in 1958. The airport included 10 T-hangars and an administration building. A few years later, 26 more T-hangars were added. In 1965, the Campbells sold the airport to the Van Sickles. In 1978, the north–south runway (Runway 18–36) was lengthened to , widened to , and three aircraft turnarounds were constructed. Other improvements included installing

High Intensity Runway Lights Runway edge lighting is used to outline the edges of runways during periods of darkness or restricted visibility conditions. These light systems are classified according to the intensity they are capable of producing: * High intensity runway li ...

(HIRL), Visual Approach Slope Indicators (VASI-2) for both runways, and an Instrument Landing System, including a

Non-Directional Beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are i ...

(NDB). Three large hangars were also added. The airport was classified as a reliever to

in the 1980s, which opened the door for the facility to get government funding from the FAA and the state of Indiana. In 1986, TYQ received its first federal grant for construction to install underdrains for Runway 18-36 and acquire of land for approach protection. In 1987 and 1988, other grants were received to reconstruct, widen, and groove the primary runway, which resulted in a DWL (dual wheel loading) strength for the runway. Under this grant, of land were acquired, an aircraft apron was constructed, and a partial parallel taxiway was added. In the early 1990s, TYQ received three more grants for extending the runway to its current length of and acquiring an additional of land. The airport did not receive further grants until 2001 when it mitigated wetland impacts and graded the runway safety area. In 2003, the airport was purchased by Hamilton County and the Hamilton County Airport Authority began receiving a series of grants for reimbursement for that purchase.

Facilities and aircraft

Indianapolis Executive Airport covers ; it has one

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

, 18/36, which is 7,000 by 100 feet (2,134 by 30 m)

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2019, the airport had 41,810 aircraft operations, an average of 115 per day: 95%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

and 5%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

. In November 2023, there were 99 aircraft based at this airport: 68 single-engine, 7 multi-engine, 20 jet and 4 helicopter. Jet Access Zionsville is the airport's full service

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down, and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...

. Taft Aviation manages the airport's T-hangars. The airport is also host to Beck's Hybrids corporate aviation department. The

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

maintains a squadron at the airport.

Eagle Composite Squadron

Indianapolis Executive Airport formerly hosted a squadron for the

. Eagle Composite Squadron conducted its weekly meeting at TYQ until April 2024 but now meets at the recently completed Republic Airlines training facility in Carmel, Indiana. Members of the squadron meet starting at 18:00 and ending at 20:30 every Tuesday. The meetings are categorized topically: Leadership, Aerospace Education, Emergency Services, and Physical Training. Eagle has been awarded numerous

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

level awards, including Squadron of Merit (SOM) for the years 2022 and 2021. Eagle has an active cadet-led program. Cadets conduct meetings, host weekend and volunteer events, and teach other cadets during their weekly meetings. Eagle Composite Squadron has over 80 registered CAP members.

References

External links

First Wing Jet Center.
the

(FBO)
Aerial photo
from

Indiana Department of Transportation The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with maintaining and regulating transportation and transportation related infrastructure such as state owned airports, List of number ...

*
Eagle Composite Squadron
{{Airports in Indiana Transportation in Indianapolis Airports in Indiana Transportation buildings and structures in Boone County, Indiana

History

Facilities and aircraft

Eagle Composite Squadron

See also

References

External links