Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Fort Nelson Airport, formally known as the Northern Rockies Regional Airport, lies a short distance northeast of the town of Fort Nelson in northern British Columbia. Built during the Second World War as a link in the Northwest Staging Route used to ferry aircraft to the Soviet Union, it remains an active regional field with two hard-surfaced runways and an ILS approach, making it a useful and historically rich waypoint for sim pilots flying the northern Canadian bush routes.
Fort Nelson Airport, officially the Northern Rockies Regional Airport, serves the town of Fort Nelson in northern British Columbia and is operated by the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality. It traces its origins to the Second World War, when it formed part of the Northwest Staging Route used to move aircraft north to Alaska and on to the Soviet Union, and it retains two paved runways and an instrument approach today. For a simulator pilot, the field offers a genuine slice of northern Canadian aviation history combined with modern instrument facilities in a remote, dramatic setting on the edge of the Rocky Mountains.
The airport lies about 3.8 nautical miles east-northeast of the town of Fort Nelson, British Columbia. It operates as a mandatory frequency (MF) area, with Nelson Radio providing an advisory service within 5 nautical miles of the field below 4300 feet ASL.
Fort Nelson has two paved runways. The main runway, 04/22, is 6,319 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting, and runway 04 is served by an ILS approach. The secondary runway, 08/26, is 4,031 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 1,243 feet.
The field broadcasts an ATIS on 125.65 MHz. Nelson Radio provides mandatory frequency (MF) and radio advisory service on 122.5 MHz within 5 nautical miles of the airport below 4300 feet ASL, and this frequency also serves as the VDF channel. Edmonton Centre provides remote communications outlet coverage on 132.87 MHz, 134.85 MHz and 290.6 MHz, while Edmonton Radio operates a remote communications outlet on 123.55 MHz. Runway 04 is equipped with an ILS.
Pilots operating within 5 nautical miles of the airport below 4300 feet ASL should contact Nelson Radio on the mandatory frequency of 122.5 MHz for advisory service and traffic information; no further published circuit heights or joining procedures are available.
The airport sits close to the town of Fort Nelson itself, which lies about 3.8 nautical miles to the west-southwest and serves as the principal visual landmark when approaching the field.
The airport was established in 1941 as part of the United States Army Air Forces' Northwest Staging Route, a chain of airfields built to ferry aircraft north through Canada and Alaska for onward delivery to the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Constructing the site was a considerable logistical undertaking, since Fort Nelson lay roughly 180 air miles north-north-west of Fort St. John and could only be reached overland in winter or by dog team along frozen rivers, with summer supplies carried by rail, steamship along the Athabasca, Slave and Mackenzie rivers, and finally by barge up the Liard and Fort Nelson rivers. The first usable runway was commissioned on 1 September 1941, and by around 1942 the site was recorded as an RCAF aerodrome with two hard-surfaced runways under construction. In the post-war decades the airport saw scheduled passenger service from Canadian Pacific Air Lines and its successors CP Air and Canadian Airlines International, linking Fort Nelson with Vancouver, Edmonton, Prince George, Fort St. John, Watson Lake and Whitehorse using aircraft ranging from the Lockheed Lodestar and Douglas DC-3 to the DC-6B and Bristol Britannia. International Jetair also served the airport in the mid-1970s with Lockheed Electra flights to Inuvik and Whitehorse, and by the mid-1990s Canadian Partner code-share services were flown with Dash 8 and Fokker F28 aircraft.
The airport is operated by the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality under the name Northern Rockies Regional Airport. Central Mountain Air currently provides scheduled service to Prince George. In 2010 the field recorded 21,371 aircraft movements, reflecting its continuing role as a regional hub for northern British Columbia.
