Lake Placid Airport is a public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located one nautical mile (1.85 km) southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Lake Placid, a village in the Town of North Elba, Essex County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is owned by the North Elba Park District. This airport is included in the FAA's

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2019–2023, which categorized it as a

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

facility. Currently, there is no scheduled air service to this airport, although charter operations are available at the airport. A few miles to the west of Lake Placid toward Saranac Lake is the larger Adirondack Regional Airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Lake Placid Airport covers an area of at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 1,747 feet (532 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 14/32 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface measuring 4,200 by 60 feet (1,280 x 18 m). For the 12-month period ending July 18, 2019, the airport had 12,000 aircraft operations: 51% local

, 34% itinerant general aviation, 14.5%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

, and 0.5%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. At that time there were 14 aircraft based at this airport: 12 single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and 2 multi-engine.

Significant Events

On October 1, 2023, aviation safety instructor

Richard McSpadden Richard Gibson McSpadden (1960 – October 1, 2023) was an American educator and pilot. He became the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Air Safety Institute (ASI) senior vice-president in 2020, having previously been its executive di ...

and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

former tight end

Russ Francis Russell Ross Francis (born April 3, 1953) is a former American football player who was a tight end for thirteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers. Francis finished his ...

were flying a

Cessna 177 The Cessna 177 Cardinal is a light single-engine, high-wing general aviation aircraft produced by Cessna. It was intended to replace the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. First announced in 1967, it was produced from 1968 to 1978.Christy, Joe: ''The Complet ...

out of Lake Placid Airport when the aircraft "experienced an emergency after takeoff." They attempted to return to the airport, but crashed into a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.New York State DOT The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in t ...

Adirondack Flying Service / Lake Placid Airport

Aerial image as of May 1995
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * * {{US-airport-minor, LKP, LKP, KLKP Airports in New York (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Essex County, New York Adirondacks