Aviation View July 2023

50 AVIATION VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2 The airport was classified as a reliever to Indianapolis International Airport in the 1980s, which opened the door for the facility to get government funding from the FAA and the state of Indiana. Land acquisition and FAA regulation have allowed them to continue to expand infrastructure – but for the last few years before Covid that expansion had slowed. Today Indianapolis Executive Airport covers 567 acres and has one runway, 18/36, which is 5,500-by-100 feet (1,677 by 30 m) concrete. They are seeing just under 42,000 airport operations a year, 95 percent of which are general aviation. Jett Access is the airport’s full-service fixed-base operator (FBO). The airport is also host to Beck’s Hybrid’s corporate aviation department. The Civil Air Patrol also maintains a squadron at the airport. Jet Access also operates a flying school at the airport with a fleet of aircraft as well as a flight simulator. There are commercial programs available, mainly geared towards training pilots for their fleet of charter jets, but also jobs in the commercial sector as well. “A little over a decade ago we started identifying that growth at the airport was going to be needed in order to keep pace with the growth around the airport.” Explains Sachs, “And to do that we really would have to expand the runway. So, this year we are on the final stages of our plan to expand the runway to 7000 feet after over a decade of work, different projects, environmental studies, and everything you can possibly imagine,” Sachs comments. “We’re finally at the phase where this summer we’re going to complete the final phase, a six- and-a-half million-dollar pavement expansion. It’s almost surreal because it’s been so long, and it’s been something we have talked about here for so many years and now it’s about three months away from beginning that work.’ Learn more about visiting, working and living in Hamilton County at InvestHamiltonCounty.com . CARMEL | FISHERS | NOBLESVILLE | WESTFIELD | NORTHERN TOWNS JUST NORTH OF INDY opportunity awaits