Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport

Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport, formerly Butler County Airport, opened as the Pittsburgh-Butler Airport[2][3] on September 27 and 28, 1929, with much fanfare and aircraft demonstrations.[3] The airport originally had three turf runways, one of which was later paved, and a turf runway closed. The remaining turf runway ran N/S. The airport was opened by Pennsylvania Aviation Industrial Corp. (PAIC) owned by George Hann, the Mellon interests and some others, who hoped to lure Pittsburgh traffic. During the Great Depression, the airport shut down for some years when there was little business. The two large hangars were used to store corn. In the 1930s, John Graham along with Kenny Sholter helped to clean out the hangars and reopened the airport. It was then renamed the Butler-Graham Airport.[2][4] 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 and his Taylorcraft B model was introduced here.[6] During World War II Graham Aviation trained so many pilots under the Civilian Pilot Training Program that Piper Cubs had to be stored tilted up on their noses to fit them all in the hangars. For many years, Butler-Graham served as an alternate airport for TWA should the weather be down at Allegheny County Airport, which from 1931-1952 was the primary airport of the city of Pittsburgh until Pittsburgh International Airport opened. By the late 1990s, the airport was getting too small to handle the number of aircraft coming in so plans were made to extend the runway by 800 feet (240 m).[5] The extension of the single runway was completed in 2004.

The airport went through a name change in May 2016, going from the Butler County Airport to the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport.

On October 31, 2020 President Donald Trump held a rally at the airport during his second run as President in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport covers an area of 304 acres (123 ha) and contains one asphalt paved runway designated 8/26 which measures 4,801 by 100 feet (1,463 by 30 m). For the 12-month period ending June 15, 2020, the airport had 74,386 aircraft operations, an average of 204 per day: 98% general aviation, 2% air taxi and <1% military. There were at that time 130 aircraft based at this airport: 108 single-engine, 6 multi-engine, 12 jet, 3 helicopter, and 1 glider.[1]

• An Historical Gazetteer of Butler County, Pennsylvania, Chicora: Mechling Bookbindery, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9760563-9-3.
• Brandberg, Robert, and James Clements, Lost Butler, New Wilmington: New Horizons Publishing, 1999, ISBN 1-884687-25-3.
• Ed Biller, "Airport turns 80," Butler Eagle, December 6, 2009.
• Parisi, Larry D., Butler County, Arcadia Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7385-3517-6.

• Butler County Airport Website
• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for BTP
  • AirNav airport information for KBTP
  • ASN accident history for BTP
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures