Chicago Executive Airport, formerly Palwaukee Municipal Airport, is a public airport 18 miles northwest of Chicago, in the village of Wheeling in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the City of Prospect Heights and the Village of Wheeling. The airport logs over 77,000 take-offs and landings each year and is the fourth busiest airport in Illinois.
History
The airport opened in 1925 as Gauthier's Flying Field. It was named Pal-Waukee in November 1928, from its location near the intersection of Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue. In 1953 the airport was purchased by George J. Priester who 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 and it was renamed Palwaukee Municipal Airport. 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 renamed Chicago Executive Airport. In October 2015, Cincinnati based Ultimate Air Shuttle announced plans to begin service from the airport to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in January or February 2016. Sally Strempel, a female pioneer in aviation, bought a flight school in 1950 at Palwukee Airport. She renamed it Sally's Flying School and retained it until 1966. Strempel was a member of the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame and was the first woman in Illinois and one of the first five nationally to be designated by the Federal Aviation Administration as a flight instructor, who could give private and commercial exams to student pilots.
Facilities
The airport covers at an elevation of 647 feet. It has three asphalt runways: 6/24 is 3,677 by 50 feet ; 12/30 is 4,415 by 75 feet ; 16/34 is 5,001 by 150 feet. For the year ending July 31, 2014 the airport had 77,321 aircraft operations, an average of 212 per day: 83% general aviation, 17% air taxi and less than 1% military. In June 2017, there were 194 aircraft based at this airport: 105 single-engine, 22 multi-engine, 62 jet and 5 helicopter. The airport can handle executive jets in the 20-seat range, such as the Grumman Gulfstream and the Bombardier Challenger, and larger aircraft occasionally visit. Occasional military transport aircraft, such as the Lockheed C-130, use the airport when carrying service members to local facilities such as Great Lakes Naval Training Center or the North Chicago V.A. Hospital. Tenants of the airport include three national fixed-base operators, Atlantic Aviation, Signature Flight Support, and Hawthorne Global Aviation Services 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, with lighted parking, a picnic table, and bleacher seating. A bulletin board has a copy of the current FAA chart, posters for events and educational information. The area is open 24/7.
Accidents
October 30, 1996, a twin engine Gulfstream IV business jet with three crew members and one passenger lost control upon takeoff and crashed immediately to the north of the airport. All four aboard perished.
January 30, 2006, an eight-seat twin engine Cessna 421B with four passengers crashed about one mile south of the airport. The aircraft was heading from Kansas to Palwaukee. There were no survivors.
November 28, 2011, a Piper PA-31 crashed on approach to Chicago Executive Airport. The aircraft was operating as a medical transport plane. The pilot, the patient, and the patient's wife were killed in the crash. Two other people on board survived. NTSB investigators determined the accident to be caused by "the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and in-flight decision-making, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion during approach." The pilot's decision to operate the aircraft after using marijuana was also cited as a contributing factor in the crash.
