Ground Broken on New Hangar at Kentucky Airport

KY – A long-awaited expansion is coming to Muhlenberg County Airport (M21) in Greenville, Kentucky. Governor Andy Beshear spoke at the August groundbreaking ceremony, thanking everyone involved in bringing the project to fruition and echoing the excitement of the surrounding communities. The airport is building a new 10,000 SF hangar to support airplane flight training through the Madisonville Community College (MCC) Fixed-Wing Aviation Program. Additional airport improvements include expansion of the main ramp area and connecting taxiways. The $6 million in funding to pay for the improvements will come from MCC, the county, the Kentucky Department of Transportation, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The MCC aviation program was established in March of 2021 after community leaders in the City of Madisonville and the Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation realized there was an opportunity to contribute to the state’s aviation capabilities and bring growth to the western Kentucky area. The program began with helicopter flight training at Madisonville Regional Airport (2IO) and then fixed-wing at M21. Students can choose to train in airplanes or helicopters, or both, while earning an Associate Degree in Applied Science and FAA certifications. For flight training the school has leased two Schweizer S300 helicopters and a Cessna 172 with a Garmin G1000 avionics suite. State-of-the-art Redbird full-motion simulators are also available at each location for enhanced training in hazardous weather, emergencies, and other unusual flight conditions that are safely taught on the ground before performing them in the aircraft.