Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Tacoma Narrows Airport (KTIW) is a Pierce County-owned general aviation field just west of Tacoma, Washington, sitting a mile southwest of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge near Gig Harbor. It is a busy single-runway airport with an ILS approach, a full-time FAA tower, and a strong base of general aviation and business jet traffic, making it a practical and interesting stop for VFR pilots exploring the south Puget Sound area.
Tacoma Narrows Airport is a county-owned, public-use general aviation airport lying close to Tacoma, Washington, and serving as Pierce County's primary business jet facility. It has no scheduled airline service, but supports a significant volume of general aviation, air taxi and some military traffic, and is home to fixed-base operators, flight training and charter operations, making it a useful and approachable destination for a simulator pilot flying in the south Puget Sound region.
The airport lies about four to five miles west of downtown Tacoma and is situated south of Gig Harbor, Washington, one mile southwest of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. There is no scheduled commercial airline service here; the nearest airport with airline service is Seattle-Tacoma International, roughly 18 miles to the northeast. Pilots inbound or outbound coordinate with Seattle Approach/Departure on the published arrival/departure frequency given below.
The airport has a single physical runway, 17/35, measuring 4,996 feet with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 17 is equipped with an ILS approach.
Seattle Approach/Departure (A/D) can be reached on 120.1 MHz. The airport ATIS broadcasts on 124.05 MHz. The tower and common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF/TWR) is 118.5 MHz, with ground control on 121.8 MHz, and UNICOM available on 122.95 MHz. An ILS is published for runway 17.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, lying about one mile northeast of the airport, is a prominent and useful visual landmark for pilots locating and joining the field, with the airport sited just south of Gig Harbor.
The airfield was first known as the Tacoma Industrial Airport as early as 1958, though it was not officially named as such until 1961, the same year the land was acquired through condemnation proceedings after a 7-2 City Council vote to apply to the FAA. A resident-led initiative attempted to put the airport to a public vote and restrict city spending on it, but this was halted when a judge ruled the initiative did not meet proper city ordinance requirements. Funding for the airport was a persistent difficulty; by January 1968 there was only enough money to build the north taxiway, meaning aircraft that did not land within a short distance had to taxi back along the runway to reach the nearest exit, a recognised safety hazard. An ordinance passed in May 1968 allocated $500,000 from the city's LID guaranty fund to airport construction, which was matched by FAA funding to allow further work. The airport's current name was first suggested in a 1980 letter to the editor by a Gig Harbor resident and was formally adopted in 1982, in part to ease residents' concerns about the industrial connotations of the airport's earlier name. The City of Tacoma owned the airport until 2008, when it was purchased by Pierce County. During the 1960s the field was served by West Coast Airlines, and in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Hughes Airwest, which at one point operated nonstop routes to Seattle and to Olympia continuing on to Hoquiam/Aberdeen, Astoria and Portland; no scheduled airline service exists there today.
Tacoma Narrows Airport is a public general aviation facility covering several hundred acres and functions as Pierce County's primary business jet airport. Fixed-base operators at the field include Narrows Aviation Air Center and Pavco Flight Center, with air taxi and charter services provided by PerryCook Flight Services and Clay Lacy Aviation. The airport is designated for customs and landing rights, with customs clearance available only by prior arrangement. Given its customs and business-jet role, pilots should expect that prior permission may be required for certain services and should plan accordingly.