Allegheny County Airport is in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. It is the fifth-busiest airport in Pennsylvania following Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg. The airport is owned by the Allegheny County Airport Authority and is the primary FAA-designated reliever airport for Pittsburgh International Airport. Allegheny County Airport was dedicated on September 11, 1931.

When it was completed, it was third-largest airport in the country and the only hard-surface airport in the country. Like many historic municipal fields, Allegheny serves small and mid-sized private, corporate and commercial traffic well, but was not built to handle jet airliners. A Boeing 727 owned by Rockwell and two DC-9s however were based on the field for years. One DC-9, owned by Westinghouse Air Brake, operated from the former TWA hangar. Another DC-9 was owned by Richard Scaife. Additionally, political candidates often operate chartered jet airliners into the field. Air Force 2, a Boeing 757, has been on the airport many times. In May 2017, a Southwest Boeing 737 with 143 passengers en route from Orlando, made a precautionary landing when running low on fuel.

The airport is popular among business travelers, being closer to downtown than Pittsburgh International Airport. It is much closer to the densely populated South Hills, Monroeville area and Monongahela Valley.

The airport is home to Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics (PIA), a large aircraft maintenance school.

Facilities

The main terminal was built on a former steel industry slag dump in 1931 by Stanley L. Roush, with later additions by Henry Hornbostel in 1936.

The Mon-Fayette Expressway, now under construction from near Pittsburgh International Airport to SR51 South and SR 43 will also connect with I376 to the east with an interchange about a mile from Allegheny County Airport.

FBOs

  • Corporate Air, LLC
  • Atlantic Aviation

Aviation schools and Clubs

  • Pittsburgh Flight Training Center
  • Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics
  • ABC Flying Club

Rental car

  • Hertz Rental Cars
  • Thrifty Car Rental
  • Avis Car Rental
  • Enterprise Car Rental

Incidents

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Date

! Flight/Airplane

! Description

|-

| April 5, 2010

| Small private plane

| Caught fire while taxiing, no one injured.

|-

| January 31, 1956

| U.S. Air Force

  • B-25 Mitchell

| North American TB-25N Mitchell 44-29125, on cross country flight from Nellis AFB, Nevada to Olmsted AFB, Pennsylvania, after departing Selfridge AFB, Michigan suffers fuel starvation NE of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in mid-afternoon, attempts to divert to Greater Pittsburgh AFB, ditches in the Monongahela River at the marker, west of the Homestead High-Level Bridge, drifts ~ downstream in 8–10 knots. current, remaining afloat for 10–15 minutes. All six crew evacuate but two are lost in the water before rescue. Search for sunken bomber suspended February 14 with no success – aircraft is thought to have possibly settled in submerged gravel pit area in of water, ~ from shore, possibly now covered by 10–15 feet of silt. This crash remains one of the Pittsburgh region's unsolved mysteries.

|-

| December 22, 1954

| DC-3 Military Charter

| [https://www.gendisasters.com/pennsylvania/4117/pittsburgh,-pa-plane-crashes-river,-dec-1954]

|-

| December 29, 1951

| Curtiss C-46 Continental Charters Flight 4–22

| [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12008/1201820-109.stm]

|-

| March 25, 1937

| TWA Flight 15A

| [https://www.gendisasters.com/pennsylvania/5510/pittsburgh-pa-plane-crashes-after-attempted-landing-mar-1937] . A Douglas DC-2 crashed on final approach to the airport due to icing of control surfaces. All on board were killed.

|-

| April 7, 1936

| TWA Flight 1

| [https://web.archive.org/web/20081215073515/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848531,00.html] A Douglas DC-2, known as the Sun Racer, crashed near Uniontown, PA while en route to Pittsburgh. Twelve of the 14 people on board were killed.

|-

| November 16, 1935

| Central Airlines

| Stinson Model A crashed during takeoff due to engine failure. All three people on board survived.

|-

| January 26, 1935

| TWA

| Consolidated Fleetster on a mail run crashed in an adjacent slag mound shortly after an early morning takeoff, killing the pilot. Icing was determined as a cause of the crash.

|-

| May 30, 1928

| Hot Air Balloon

| At the National Balloon Races Championship at adjacent "Bettis Field," a balloon crashed with 100,000 spectators; both operators died.

|}

Historic Landmark status

In 1981, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation added the Allegheny County Airport to their List of Historic Landmarks.

In film

The airport was featured in the 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies, serving as a small airport in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

The airport and terminal were also used in the 1986 movie Gung Ho starring Michael Keaton.

The 2017 film Last Flag Flying was filmed in the hangar and ramp areas.

Notable visitors

Early aviators Harold Gatty and Wiley Post visited the airport as it was finishing construction both from the ground and air and commented that it was the finest airport they had encountered.

See also

  • History of aviation in Pittsburgh
  • List of airports in Pennsylvania

References

  • Allegheny County Airport
  • Pennsylvania Bureau of Aviation: Allegheny County Airport