Plattsburgh Air Force Base Plattsburgh Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) base covering 3 , 447 acres ( 13 . 7 km² ) in the extreme northeast corner of New York , 20 miles ( 32 km ) south of the Canadian border . It is located on the western shore of Lake Champlain opposite Burlington , Vermont , in the city of Plattsburgh , New York . The base closed on 25 September 1995 , pursuant to the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990 ( 10 U . S . C . Sec . 2687 note ) and the recommendations of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission . It is now a civilian airport and industrial complex , operated by the Plattsburgh Air Base Development Authority . The airfield is now known as Plattsburgh International Airport . History . Major commands to which assigned . Major commands to which the base was assigned : Operational history . Second half of the Cold War . Built during the Cold War , Plattsburgh AFB ' s runway is large enough to land the space shuttle . It was on a list of alternate landing sites for the space shuttle . Space shuttle Columbia astronaut Michael P . Anderson , born at Plattsburgh AFB , was an Air Force pilot at Plattsburgh AFB when he got selected by NASA in 1994 . Base culture . Earl Stevenson , TSGT USAF ( Ret . dec . ) , the subject of the memoir , " Strictly a Loner : My Life and Times with Plattsburgh ' s Poorest Millionaire " learned to play the stock market from his commander at Vandenberg AFB in the late 1950s . After space - A hopping around the world , he stopped in Plattsburgh , New York in 1966 and began renting rooms in the Northern New York city . He was often seen at the Base Hospital , the NCO club ( image in book ) and base Thrift Shop . He also frequented the Skyway Plaza . Current status . After the base was decommissioned , the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation ( PARC ) was created to manage the property . PARC split up the base into 165 parcels for redevelopment . On 16 and 17 August 1996 , PARC hosted a massive music concert on the runway of the old decommissioned airbase featuring the band Phish . 70 , 000 people attended this concert known as the Clifford Ball which added $ 20 million to the local economy . Current PARC tenants on former airbase properties leased by PARC include Wood Group Pratt & Whitney Industrial Turbine Services ( the first and longest continuous tenant ) , Bombardier , Composite Factory , Inc . , ORC Macro , Pratt & Whitney , GSM Vehicles ( vintage trailer restoration ) and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company ( WABCO ) . The U . S . Air Force lists Plattsburgh among its BRAC " success stories . " The base ' s reuse and the circumstances surrounding it were chronicled in " Flying High Again : PARC ' s Redevelopment of Plattsburgh Air Force Base " , written by Marian Calabro and published by CorporateHistory . net in 2008 . While digging for new PARC construction was underway low level nuclear materials ( such as contaminated protective clothing ) were found buried . The levels of radiation were safe and the area was decontaminated . Geography . Plattsburgh AFB is bordered by the city of Plattsburgh and the Saranac River to the north and the Salmon River to the south . It lies on the western shore of Lake Champlain on the New York - Vermont border .