Blue Grass Airport

Blue Grass Airport
IATA: LEX – ICAO: KLEX – FAA LID: LEX KLEX Location of Bluegrass Airport
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Lexington-Fayette County Airport Board
Serves		Lexington, Kentucky
Location		Fayette County
Elevation AMSL		979 ft / 298 m
Website		www.bluegrassairport.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
4/22	7,003	2,135	Asphalt
9/27	4,000	1,219	Concrete
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft operations			67,370
Based aircraft			140
Passengers			1,070,000

Blue Grass Airport (IATA: LEX, ICAO: KLEX, FAA LID: LEX) is a public airport located in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States, 4 miles west of the central business district of the city of Lexington. The main terminal building was opened in 1977. The airport covers an area of 911 acres (3.69 km²) and has two runways. It is also home to the Aviation Museum of Kentucky. On April 18, 2007, Blue Grass Airport opened up an extension of Concourse B. The extension added six new boarding gates with 4 new jetways. In 2010 there were 1,104,558 passengers that either departed or arrived at Bluegrass Airport.^[1]

Contents 1 Airlines and destinations 1.1 Top destinations 2 Incidents and Accidents 3 Fictional Reference 4 See also 5 References 5.1 Notes 6 External links

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations	Concourse
AirTran Airways	Orlando Seasonal: Fort Lauderdale	B
Allegiant Air	Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Orlando/Sanford, Punta Gorda, St. Petersburg/Clearwater	B
American Eagle	Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth	A
Delta Air Lines	Atlanta	B
Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines	Atlanta	B
Delta Connection operated by Chautauqua Airlines	Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, Washington-National	B
Delta Connection operated by Comair	Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul	B
Delta Connection operated by Pinnacle Airlines	Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Washington-National	B
United Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines	Chicago-O'Hare, Houston-Intercontinental	A/B
US Airways Express operated by Air Wisconsin	Charlotte	A
US Airways Express operated by PSA Airlines	Charlotte	A

Top destinations

Busiest Domestic Routes from LEX (September 2010-August 2011)^[2]

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Atlanta, GA	130,000	Delta, Delta Connection
2	Charlotte, NC	78,000	US Airways Express
3	Chicago, IL	60,000	United Express, American Eagle
4	Detroit, MI	59,000	Delta Connection
5	Orlando, FL	33,000	AirTran
6	Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport	33,000	American Eagle
7	Memphis International Airport	25,000	-
8	George Bush Intercontinental Airport	21,000	United Express
9	St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport	17,000	Allegiant
10	Laguardia Airport	17,000	Delta Connection

Incidents and Accidents

• December 5, 1987: After suffering an in-flight engine fire en route from Dallas, Texas to New York, the flight crew of a Hawker Siddeley HS.125 business jet, registration number N400PH, touched down short of the runway while attempting an emergency landing at Blue Grass Airport. The jet crossed a highway and struck an automobile, utility poles, and 2 fences, killing the pilot and co-pilot, and injuring both passengers in the aircraft and 2 people in the automobile. The accident was attributed to the crew's inadvertent retraction of the aircraft's flaps, causing the jet to suddenly lose altitude.^[3][4]

• November 1993: The flight crew of an unidentified commercial jet at Blue Grass Airport was cleared for takeoff on Runway 22 but mistakenly lined up at the shorter Runway 26 instead. Tower personnel noticed the mistake and cancelled the aircraft's takeoff clearance just as the crew realized their error. The aircraft subsequently made a safe departure from Runway 22.^[5]

• August 30, 2002: A Learjet 35C, registration number N45CP, overran Runway 4 on landing, killing 1 passenger and seriously injuring 4 other occupants of the aircraft. The accident was attributed to the pilot's application of additional forward thrust after failing to properly deploy the jet's thrust reversers.^[6]

• August 27, 2006: Comair Flight 5191, a Bombardier CRJ-100ER operated by regional carrier Comair on behalf of Delta Connection, overran Runway 26 and crashed after being cleared to take off from the much longer Runway 22. There were 49 fatalities, with the first officer, James Polehinke, being the only survivor.

• March 25, 2009: A Cessna 182, registration number N4871N, crashed 3 mi (5 km) west of Blue Grass Airport, killing the pilot and sole occupant. The pilot apparently became disoriented during the landing approach after losing electrical power in densely clouded IFR conditions, but the cause of the crash had not been positively determined as of September 2009.^[7]

Fictional Reference

Blue Grass Field was Auric Goldfinger's flight destination in the James Bond film Goldfinger^[8]

See also

• Kentucky World War II Army Airfields

References

• Blue Grass Airport (official web site)
• FAA Airport Master Record for LEX (Form 5010 PDF)
• Kentucky.com article on new dining/retail options
• Kentucky.com article on closing smaller runway to begin building replacement

Notes

1. ^ http://www.bluegrassairport.com/021011_passengeractivity.html
2. ^ http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=LEX&Airport_Name=Lexington,%20KY:%20Blue%20Grass&carrier=FACTS
3. ^ "NTSB Probable Cause Report ATL88MA053". National Traffic Safety Board. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X32667&key=1. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
4. ^ Staff writers (1987-12-06). "2 Killed, 4 Injured in Kentucky Plane Crash". The Dallas Morning News. 
5. ^ "NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System report #256788". NASA. http://www.37000feet.com/report/256788. Retrieved 2008-09-23. 
6. ^ "NTSB Probable Cause Report NYC02FA177". National Transportation Safety Board. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020916X01611. Retrieved 2006-08-27. 
7. ^ "NTSB Preliminary Report ERA09FA215". National Transportation Safety Board. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20090325X35727&key=1. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
8. ^ Goldfinger Script - transcript from the screenplay and/or James Bond movie

External links

• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 15 December 2011
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KLEX
  • ASN accident history for LEX
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KLEX
  • FAA current LEX delay information