Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Mackinac Island Airport (KMCD) sits in the heart of Mackinac Island, Michigan, a single-runway general aviation field reachable only by air or water since the island itself bans motor vehicles. For the simulator pilot it offers a short, tree-lined approach to a lighted 3,492-foot runway in a genuinely unusual setting, a working airfield inside a National Historic Landmark district.
Mackinac Island Airport is a small public-use aerodrome owned and operated by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, located in the centre of Mackinac Island in the Straits of Mackinac, Michigan. It exists to serve the island's tourists, workers and residents, since the island permits no private motor vehicles and access is otherwise limited to ferry. The field is of particular interest to sim pilots for its island setting, its short surrounding tree line, and its role as a lifeline connection to the mainland, especially in winter when the straits ice over.
The airport lies in uncontrolled airspace one nautical mile northwest of downtown Mackinac Island, in the centre of the island itself. It is close to, but not directly accessible from, M-185, Michigan's only highway on which motor vehicles are prohibited. The nearest airports with fuel and larger facilities are at St Ignace, Cheboygan and Pellston on the mainland, with Chippewa County International Airport also within range for connecting traffic.
The airport has one physical runway, 08/26, of 3,492 feet with a hard surface, and it is lit. There is no ILS.
An AWOS-3 automated weather observation is available on 118.275 MHz. Minneapolis Center can be contacted on 134.6 MHz. The field uses UNICOM as its CTAF on 122.7 MHz for advisory calls, as there is no air traffic control tower. Pilot-controlled runway lighting has also been reported on 122.8 MHz, in addition to medium-intensity runway lighting and PAPI lights serving each runway direction.
There is no ATC service at Mackinac Island, so arriving and departing traffic operates on a self-announced basis over UNICOM on 122.7 MHz. Pilots should be alert to the trees surrounding the runway, which have been cited as a factor in past accidents during approach and in the traffic pattern; a documented accident involved a pilot losing clearance from trees after an unstable second approach, underlining the need for a stable, well-flown pattern in what is a compact airfield environment.
The airport sits roughly a mile and a half by paved road from the downtown shops and waterfront of Mackinac Island, and is accessed on the ground via Annex Road. From the air, the island itself, surrounded by the waters of the Straits of Mackinac, is the principal reference, with the field located centrally on the island rather than near its shoreline settlements.
Mackinac Island Airport began life as a grass airstrip in 1934, gaining a paved runway in 1963 and a terminal building in 1969. A $4.6 million project carried out in 2011-2012 relocated the runway 65 feet east onto flatter ground. The airfield lies within the Mackinac Island National Historic Landmark District, added to the National Register of Historic Places on 9 October 1960. Over the years the field has seen several notable accidents, including a fatal Great Lakes Air Piper PA-32 crash on 3 December 2011 en route from St Ignace, and a 2018 landing accident involving a Great Lakes Air Piper PA-28 caused by improperly reinstalled landing gear.
The airport functions as a self-service field with no fixed fuel available on site; the nearest fuel is at FBOs in St Ignace, Cheboygan and Pellston. There is a small terminal with a pilot's lounge and crew facilities, maintained by state park staff, with staffed hours running from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM September through May and 8 AM to 5 PM June through August. Fresh Air Aviation has provided scheduled passenger and cargo service to the island, while Great Lakes Air, a former operator, ceased flying in 2022. No camping is permitted on Mackinac Island, including at the airport, though nearby Bois Blanc Island offers a camping-friendly airstrip alternative.
