Business View Magazine November-December 2018

86 87 MURFREESBORO The Municipal Airport AERONAUTICAL TRAINING IS KEY AT A GLANCE THE MURFREESBORO MUNICIPAL AIRPORT WHAT: A city-owned, public-use airport WHERE: Two miles north of Murfreesboro, Tennessee WEBSITE: www.murfreesborotn.gov/95/Airport T he Murfreesboro Municipal Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located two nautical miles north of the central business district of Murfreesboro, a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee. “The original air- port here in Murfreesboro was located at Middle Tennessee State College,” says Airport Manager, Chad L. Gehrke. “The University started an avia- tion program back in the period of World War II, training cadets. In 1948, the City of Murfreesboro started construction of an airport north of Mur- freesboro, and it’s been here, at its current loca- tion, since 1952.” Today, the Middle Tennessee State University Aerospace Department, which has one of the largest university Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) programs in the country, contin- ues to maintain a substantial presence at Mur- freesboro Municipal Airport, training professional pilots, aircraft mechanics, air traffic controllers, and airport administrators. The university main- tains a fleet of aircraft including 19 Diamond DA40s, a Diamond DA20, three Piper PA-28R Arrows, two Piper PA-44 Seminoles, a Piper PA-18 Super Cub, and a Beechcraft King Air 200, and has continued to maintain its ranking as one of the top five aviation programs in the nation. The City of Murfreesboro, took over the direct