The first landing at the airport occurred on October 13, 1961. Lucius Burch of Memphis, Tennessee and two passengers came for a weekend of fishing. Formerly, he had to land in Crestview, Florida, which Burch described as a "terrible nuisance". The field was being clayed by the county at the request of the Okaloosa Airport and Industrial Authority. Frank D. Duckett of Shalimar, Florida, announced that he had opened the area's first air charter service at a Playground Chamber of Commerce meeting on Dec. 8, 1961. Duckett said that the 2,000-foot runway in Destin was being hard surfaced, lights were being installed and that fuel and maintenance service would be available. He was arranging for rental cars to be parked at the airport for incoming planes. The service offered a Tri-Pace 135, four seat aircraft, with other types of aircraft available based on the customer's needs. Duckett said that the rates for the Tri-Pace would be 5.5 cents per mile, per person, based on a full load of four persons.
Facilities and aircraft
Destin Executive Airport covers an area of 395 acres at an elevation of 22 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 14/32 with an asphalt surface measuring. For the 12-month period ending March 6, 2018, the airport had 63,000 aircraft operations, an average of 173 per day: 99% general aviation, 1% air taxi and less than 1% military. In January 2020, there were 65 aircraft based at this airport: 36 single-engine, 15 multi-engine, 11 jet and 3 helicopter.
Airlines and destinations
s offering scheduled passenger service to non-stop destinations:
Incidents
The first fatal aircraft accident recorded at the Destin Executive Airport occurred on February 16, 1975, when a Cessna 210 with three people on board crashed shortly after a 0100 hrs. departure from the facility, the single-engined propeller cabin monoplane coming down one quarter mile from the runway in an area platted for the future Kelly Estates subdivision. All three were killed, the airframe burning completely with bodies burnt beyond recognition. Officials said that the plane was flying under a 200-foot ceiling with poor visibility. No flight plan had been filed. An investigator of the Federal Aviation Administration stated that there was no immediate evidence of mechanical failure. On April 17, 1983 a Beechcraft Bonanza clipped power lines and crashed south of the airport and knocked out power to most of Destin for hours. The pilot and passenger survived. On December 24, 1987, a Cessna 150 attempting a landing at Destin Executive Airport was caught by the sudden onset of fog as it circled to land which cut visibility to nothing. The plane struck the 19th floor of the Hidden Dunes Resort, becoming lodged in the wall of unit 1901 by the fuselage and landing gear. The 39-year old pilot was seriously injured and his 31-year-old female passenger died on site from injuries from the impact. There was no fire. The pilot was pulled into the building through a window on the 18th floor. "A National Transportation Safety Board investigation later found to be at fault for the crash, having planned poorly by not accounting for the fog that was in the area and not being rated to fly in conditions that required instruments to navigate."
