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Lake County Executive Airport, formerly Lost Nation Airport, is a general aviation reliever field for Cleveland Hopkins International, sited a few miles northeast of Willoughby, Ohio. It offers two hard-surfaced, lit runways and a long, colourful history stretching back to 1929, and today supports a busy mix of business, training and recreational flying.
Lake County Executive Airport (KLNN), long known as Lost Nation Airport, is a public-use general aviation field in Lake County, Ohio, owned and operated by the Lake County Port and Economic Development Authority (the Lake Development Authority). It has served as a reliever airport for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and today hosts a busy mix of based single- and multi-engine aircraft, jets and helicopters, along with flight training and business aviation activity, making it a useful and interesting destination for the visiting VFR pilot.
The airport lies approximately 3 miles north-northeast of the central business district of Willoughby, Ohio, and about 16 miles east of downtown Cleveland, close to the Lake Erie shoreline. It sits within the wider Cleveland terminal area and has historically been designated a general aviation reliever for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Pilots operating in the vicinity can expect to work with Cleveland Approach/Departure on 125.35 MHz for traffic advisories.
The airport has two physical runways, both hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 05/23 is the longer of the pair, with the 05 threshold giving 4,580 ft of usable length and the 23 threshold giving 5,007 ft. Runway 10/28 is shorter, offering 4,264 ft from the 10 threshold and 3,143 ft from the 28 threshold. Field elevation is 623 ft.
KLNN is a non-towered airport. Traffic should use the CTAF/UNICOM frequency of 122.725 MHz for self-announced circuit and ground operations. Cleveland Approach/Departure provides area traffic advisories on 125.35 MHz. The airport has no published instrument landing system.
As an uncontrolled field, pilots are expected to make position reports and coordinate arrivals, departures and circuit traffic on the 122.725 MHz CTAF/UNICOM frequency, following standard see-and-avoid procedures in the absence of an operating control tower.
The airfield is located off Lost Nation Road in Willoughby, close to Route 2, the Lake County Business Corridor, which runs along the shoreline area. A golf course adjoins the airport property and has historically been a notable feature near the approach paths, useful as a visual landmark when positioning for the runways.
The site was first used as a flying field in 1929 by the Osborn family, and by 1933 it was known as Lost Nation Airport. The Lake Erie Flying Club, a women's flying club founded at Lake Erie College in 1935, was based there. The field was purchased by Kent Smith and rededicated in August 1940, then taken over by the Civil Air Patrol in July 1943, who operated it until 1946, when William F. McNeely acquired it. A second runway, 05/23, was built in 1956, and its 1963 extension caused local controversy over noise and approach lighting near nearby homes. In 1969 airport pilots opposed a proposed 600 ft smokestack near the field. By 1973 the airport covered over 500 acres, and it was donated to Case Western Reserve University in the early 1980s, around the time aerial photography firm Kucera International began operating there. The City of Willoughby purchased the airport in 1986 and undertook a roughly $14 million modernisation programme, enlarging runways and removing obstructions including old houses and the original terminal. Cleveland Jet Center began building a hangar and headquarters in 1991 but left in 1996 amid noise complaints and closure concerns. A 1997 fly-in featuring a B-17 and a CASA 2.111 saw a proposal floated for an on-site aviation museum. Ownership passed to the Lake County Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority in 2014, and the airport was renamed Lake County Executive Airport in 2019, formalised in March 2020.
The airport supports around 90 based aircraft, including single- and multi-engine piston types, jets and helicopters, and handles roughly 45,000 aircraft operations a year, the great majority general aviation. Classic Jet Center operates as the field's fixed-base operator, supplying avgas and Jet A fuel along with general maintenance, avionics services, catering, courtesy transportation, a conference room, crew lounge and showers. A new 5,800 sq ft terminal building broke ground in 2025, intended to modernise facilities for business and recreational pilots and to provide classroom space for flight training and youth aviation programmes, with completion expected by summer 2026.
