Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Aibai Airstrip is a remote mission airstrip high in the Chimbu Province highlands of Papua New Guinea, built to serve the Aibai mission station rather than any commercial traffic. Its short single runway and mountainous surroundings make it a classic bush-flying destination for simulator pilots seeking a genuine short-field challenge.
Aibai Airstrip sits in the rugged highlands of Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, and exists to serve a mission compound at Aibai rather than any town or commercial route. It is a small, isolated strip of the kind found throughout the PNG highlands, and its combination of high elevation, short length and mountain terrain gives it real appeal to sim pilots who enjoy demanding bush-flying approaches.
The airstrip lies at coordinates -6.2652, 144.987 in Chimbu Province, in the interior highlands of Papua New Guinea. No controlled airspace, FIR boundary or ATZ detail is published for the field. The nearest recorded airstrips are Omkalai, roughly 10 km to the north-north-west, and Namane, roughly 11 km to the south-east, both also small highland strips.
Aibai has a single physical runway, 04/22, with a hard surface and a length of around 1,500 feet (1,537 feet on the 22 threshold and 1,502 feet on the 04 threshold). Field elevation is 6,722 feet, making this a genuinely high-altitude highland strip. There is no ILS or other instrument approach aid.
No radio frequencies, callsign or navaids are published for Aibai Airstrip; there is no instrument approach available, and pilots should expect to operate entirely on a visual, self-announced basis typical of PNG mission strips.
No formal joining or circuit procedures are published for Aibai. Given the strip's short length, high elevation and surrounding mountainous terrain, arriving pilots should expect to plan a visual approach with a firm awareness of terrain on the go-around side, in the manner typical of unmanned PNG bush strips.
The runway lies immediately beside the Aibai mission compound, which serves as the principal visual reference for locating the field; there are no other published visual reporting points.
The strip began as a basic cleared runway that, according to accounts from missionaries associated with the Aibai station, needed grading, extension and topping with soil from a neighbouring property to establish a grass surface and prevent washout. Volunteer teams worked to complete this improvement over a period of roughly two and a half weeks, an effort described as the culmination of some fifteen years of work by the resident missionary family, the Berbins, who hoped to be able to fly directly into Aibai on their return from furlough rather than making the hazardous overland road trip to the village.
Aibai continues to function as a mission airstrip supporting the Aibai compound and surrounding villages in the highlands. For flight simulation, a dedicated scenery addon for Microsoft Flight Simulator is available depicting the strip with improved terrain work, including the humps, bumps and terraces characteristic of the real airstrip, offering a faithful recreation of its short-field bush-flying challenge.
