Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Beaver Island Airport is a public-use, uncontrolled field on Beaver Island in Charlevoix County, Michigan, serving the island's small archipelago community with scheduled air-taxi links, general aviation and emergency medical flights. It offers a single lit paved runway alongside two grass strips, making it a useful destination for pilots wanting a genuine island approach over northern Lake Michigan.
Beaver Island Airport sits on Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan, and is jointly owned by St. James and Peaine Townships. It is a modest but busy local general aviation facility, handling a mix of air-taxi operations, private flying and, at times, emergency medical flights, and it is included in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems as a local GA field. For the visiting sim pilot it offers an interesting combination of a proper lit hard-surface runway and two grass strips set in a remote lakeside landscape.
The airport lies on Beaver Island in Charlevoix County, Michigan, within the airspace overseen by Minneapolis Center, whose frequency is published for the field. It is an uncontrolled airport with no on-field air traffic control, relying on self-announced radio procedures for arriving and departing traffic. The island setting means the field is surrounded by open water on most sides, with the small settlement of St. James nearby.
Beaver Island Airport has three physical runways. Runway 09/27 is the primary strip, 4,292 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 14/32 is a 3,295-foot grass runway, and runway 05/23 is a shorter 2,070-foot grass strip. Neither grass runway is lit, and the paved 09/27 is the only runway with lighting.
Pilots should monitor the CTAF/UNICOM frequency of 122.8 MHz for local traffic advisories, as there is no control tower on the field. Weather information is available via AWOS on 118.075 MHz. En route and transit traffic can expect to work Minneapolis Center on 134.6 MHz. The airport has no ILS or other instrument landing aids.
As an uncontrolled field, standard self-announcing procedures apply on the CTAF, with pilots making blind calls to alert other traffic in the pattern and on the ground. The two grass runways, 05/23 and 14/32, are closed during the winter months from November through April, and also whenever they are snow-covered, so pilots should expect only the paved 09/27 to be usable outside the warmer months. Access to the airfield is via a local access road rather than any major highway, reinforcing its rural, low-traffic character.
Beaver Island itself, the largest island in Lake Michigan, is the principal visual reference for pilots approaching from the mainland, with the airport situated inland from the island's shoreline. There are no published formal visual reporting points beyond the island's own distinctive coastal outline, which stands out clearly against the surrounding water when flying VFR across the lake.
Beaver Island Airport has long served as a lifeline for the island community, supporting air-taxi and general aviation traffic to and from the mainland. In 2020 the airport received a $20,000 federal grant under the CARES Act to help maintain operations and upgrade facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The field has seen its share of incidents: an aircraft crashed nearby in 1988, and on 8 February 2001 a Swearingen SA227 Merlin operated by Northern Illinois Flight Center, inbound from Chicago, went missing for fifteen hours after crashing; the two crew members were killed, but Paul Welke, owner of the separate Island Airways operation, took part in the search and located survivor Mirth Gault and her three children alive beside the wreckage.
The airport has a fixed-base operator providing fuel, a crew lounge and conference rooms for visiting pilots and passengers. Fresh Air Aviation has operated services connected with the field, including charter flights to Charlevoix and Mackinac Island. A major repaving project has been undertaken on the paved east-west runway, taxiways and apron, together with upgrades to runway edge lighting, guidance signs and runway end identifier lights, intended to keep the airport safe and operational for the passenger, cargo, general aviation and emergency medical flights that rely on it; during such works the field may be closed to fixed-wing traffic while remaining available for helicopter medical evacuations. Pilots planning a visit should confirm current runway availability given the seasonal closure of the grass strips and any ongoing works.