Nanwalek Airport is a state-owned public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located in Nanwalek (formerly English Bay), an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in the

Kenai Peninsula Borough Kenai Peninsula Borough is a borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,799, up from 55,400 in 2010. The borough seat is Soldotna, the largest city is Kenai, and the most populated community is the c ...

of the US state of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

. It was formerly known as English Bay Airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Nanwalek Airport covers an area of which contains one gravel

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

(1/19) measuring 1,850 x 50 ft (564 x 15 m). For 12-month period ending December 31, 2002, the airport had 3,100 aircraft operations, an average of 8 per day: 97%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

and 3%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

Airlines and destinations

This airport is considered the shortest runway in the USA used by US commuter airlines. The runway is 1850 feet, however the Department of Transportation has closed the first 1000 feet of Runway 19 making the usable runway only 850 feet.

Incidents

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206, and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane) are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

belonging to Smokey Bay Air crashed near the Nanwalek Airport, after an aborted landing, on July 11, 2003. The plane crashed into the sea about 200 yards offshore. The pilot, Stephen Finley, 49 of Hopewell, N.J. died in the crash. He was the only person on board. A

belonging to Smokey Bay Air crashed near Nanwalek Airport on takeoff on December 15, 2011. The plane crashed into the sea about 100 ft (30 m) from the shore, and the four persons who had been on board swam to the shore. The crash is being investigated by the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

Nanwalek Airport in Popular Culture

;Games * Nanwalek Airport is featured as a hand crafted Airport in

Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020 video game) ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' (colloquially known as ''Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020'') is an amateur flight simulator developed by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is an entry in the ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' serie ...

References

External links

FAA Alaska airport diagram
( GIF) * Resources for this airport: ** ** ** Airports in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska {{KenaiPeninsulaAK-geo-stub