Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
North Bass Island Airport is a small public airstrip on North Bass Island in Lake Erie, Ohio, owned and operated by the Put-in-Bay Township Port Authority. It exists mainly to keep the remote island connected to the mainland and neighbouring islands, carrying mail, residents and charter passengers, and its proximity to the Canadian border makes approaches here notably demanding for visiting pilots.
North Bass Island Airport (FAA identifier 3X5) sits on North Bass Island, the northernmost of the Bass Islands group in Lake Erie, Ohio. It is a public field owned and operated by the Put-in-Bay Township Port Authority, with no fixed-base operator and no aircraft normally based there. Its principal role is practical rather than recreational: it brings mail to the island and links its handful of year-round residents, along with visitors, to the mainland and other Lake Erie islands. For a simulator pilot the appeal lies in its remoteness, its short strip on a lightly developed island, and the operational challenge posed by its position hard against an international border.
The airfield lies on North Bass Island, part of Put-in-Bay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio, in the Bass Islands group of the Lake Erie Islands archipelago. The island is roughly equidistant from Port Clinton, Ohio, and Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Canadian airspace begins only about two miles from the runway threshold, and the Wikipedia account of the airport specifically notes that approaches are complicated by this closeness to the border, particularly for traffic operating to the north. The island itself is otherwise undeveloped, with the state-run North Bass Island State Park covering most of its 688.6 acres.
North Bass Island Airport has two physical runways. Runway 01/19 is 1,805 feet long with a hard (asphalt) surface, and runway 10/28 is 1,403 feet long with a grass surface. Field elevation is 587 feet.
No communications frequencies are published for North Bass Island Airport, and the field has no instrument landing system. Pilots should expect to operate on a self-announce basis in the absence of any published air-ground or ATC frequency, and no navaids are associated with the airfield.
No published circuit height, joining procedure or noise-abatement restriction is recorded for this airfield. The one operationally significant factor noted in the available material is the airport's closeness to the Canadian border, only about two miles from the runway threshold, which the Wikipedia entry describes as making approaches and departures to the north complex; pilots planning a visit should factor this border proximity into their routing and lookout.
No formal visual reporting points are published for the airfield. Useful visual references for locating it include North Bass Island's position as the northernmost of the Bass Islands in Lake Erie, the small unnamed creek and Manila Bay on the island's southwest corner, and the surrounding North Bass Island State Park land that covers most of the island, distinguishing it from the more developed South Bass and Middle Bass Islands nearby.
The runway at North Bass Island was originally paved in 1995. In October 2019 it underwent its first significant improvement since then, funded by a 2.338 million dollar FAA grant. The airport received a further 22,000 dollars in 2021 as part of a wider round of economic relief funding for Lake Erie island airports, and 113,000 dollars from the FAA in late 2023. The island itself has a long connection to transport by water and air: it has never had ferry service, relying instead on a commercial dock dating to 1880 and on aircraft, especially in winter when ice cuts off boat access for around four months of the year.
North Bass Island Airport remains a working utility airstrip rather than a general-aviation destination in its own right. There is no fixed-base operator and no aircraft are permanently based there. It sees a modest level of activity, historically around 1,700 operations a year, split between general aviation and air-taxi flights, with charter operator Griffing Flying Service linking the field to Kelleys Island, Middle Bass Island, Pelee Island, Put-in-Bay and Rattlesnake Island. Because the island has no ferry service, the airport is also relied upon by North Bass Island's small resident population, including students who fly to school on the mainland or other islands during the winter ice season.
