Purdue’s New Athletic Director Arrived in West Lafayette Aboard N1PU
The Purdue Aviation-listed Hawker made a same-morning round trip to the Houston area before returning with Tommy McClelland and his family.
Tommy McClelland and his family arrived at Purdue University Airport on Wednesday aboard N1PU, a Hawker 900XP listed in Purdue Aviation’s charter fleet. Purdue Athletics posted video of the family stepping off the jet and welcomed them to West Lafayette, directly tying the arriving aircraft to the university’s new athletic director.
N1PU had left West Lafayette at 6:31 a.m. ET for Sugar Land Regional Airport outside Houston. The jet landed there at 8:28 a.m., spent 46 minutes on the ground and returned to Purdue at 11:17 a.m. McClelland was not aboard that outbound flight from West Lafayette; it positioned the aircraft to Houston to collect him and his family. He had served as Rice’s vice president and director of athletics in Houston since 2023.
Purdue’s video documents the McClelland family on the return to Indiana, but the public posts do not identify anyone who may have traveled to Houston aboard the outbound leg. They also do not disclose the flight’s cost or the contractual arrangement under which it was operated.

