| Butler County Airport K. W. Scholter Field |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal Building | |||
| IATA: BTP – ICAO: KBTP – FAA LID: BTP | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | Butler County Airport Authority | ||
| Serves | Butler, Pennsylvania | ||
| Location | Penn Township, Pennsylvania | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,248 ft / 380 m | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 8/26 | 4,801 | 1,463 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2007) | |||
| Aircraft operations | 62,685 | ||
| Based aircraft | 132 | ||
| Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] | |||
Butler County Airport (IATA: BTP, ICAO: KBTP, FAA LID: BTP), also known as K. W. Scholter Field, is a public airport located five miles (8 km) southwest of the central business district of Butler, a city in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by the Butler County Airport Authority.[1]
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Butler County Airport opened as the Pittsburgh-Butler Airport[2][3] on September 27 and 28, 1929 with much fanfare and aircraft demonstrations.[3] It was later named the Butler-Graham Airport.[2][4] For more than twenty years the Butler airfield was one of the primary airports servicing the city of Pittsburgh until Pittsburgh International Airport was completed in the early 1950s. During its early years, the airport served as an important training area for potential pilots. One notable trainee was Amelia Earhart[3] who received her instrument flight certificate there while practicing for her solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean in 1932.[5] It was also at the airport that Earhart had the long-range fuel tanks installed on her Lockheed Vega.[5] Another notable aviator was C.G. Taylor, who in 1935 moved his Taylorcraft Aircraft company to Butler.[5] His new planes were tested at the airport. During World War II the airport served as a training ground for fighter pilots. By the late 1990s, the airport was getting too small to handle the amount of aircraft coming in so plans were made to extend the runway by 800 feet.[5] The extension of the single runway was completed in 2004.
Butler County Airport covers an area of 230 acres (93 ha) and contains one asphalt paved runway designated 8/26 which measures 4,801 x 100 ft (1,463 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending February 27, 2007, the airport had 62,685 aircraft operations, an average of 171 per day: 98% general aviation, 2% air taxi and <1% military. There are 132 aircraft based at this airport: 72% single-engine, 23% multi-engine, 3% jet and 2% helicopter.[1]