Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Bethel Airport (PABE) is a state-owned public-use airport in southwestern Alaska, serving as the principal air hub for the remote Bethel Census Area. With three paved runways, including a 6,380-foot strip equipped with an ILS, it offers a well-equipped stop for pilots operating in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, feeding a wide network of village airstrips beyond.
Bethel Airport is a state-owned, public-use aerodrome serving the city of Bethel in western Alaska. It functions as the principal hub for regional air carriers linking Bethel with dozens of scattered village airstrips across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, as well as with Anchorage. For a simulator pilot, it offers an interesting mix of a well-developed, ILS-equipped main runway alongside shorter utility strips, all set in a remote, largely roadless part of Alaska where aviation is the primary means of transport.
The airport lies about three nautical miles southwest of downtown Bethel, in the Bethel Census Area of western Alaska. Surrounding en-route airspace is worked by Anchorage Center, and Kenai Radio provides flight service functions for the area, including weather information on the CTAF frequency.
Bethel Airport has three paved physical runways. Runway 01L/19R is 6,380 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS serving the 19R approach. Runway 01R/19L is 3,953 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 12/30 is the shortest at 1,836 feet, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 118 feet.
ATIS broadcasts on 119.8. The tower and common traffic frequency operate on 118.7, with ground control on 121.7. Anchorage Center handles overlying en-route traffic on 125.2. Kenai Radio, acting as the local flight service station and CTAF/weather source, is on 122.65, and TWEB operations (NG Ops) are broadcast on 124.65. A navaid is listed on 114.1. An ILS is available for runway 19R.
Construction of the airfield began on 21 September 1941, and it was activated on 4 July 1942 as Bethel Air Base. During the Second World War it was used by the Air Transport Command as an auxiliary field for Lend-Lease aircraft being ferried to Siberia. The facility passed to the Eleventh Air Force and then, in 1945, to the Alaskan Air Command, becoming a joint-use civil and military airport. In the mid-1950s it supported construction of the Bethel Air Force Station, an Aircraft Control and Warning site, before full jurisdiction was transferred to the government of Alaska in 1958.
Bethel Airport today is a busy regional hub, handling around 122,000 aircraft operations a year, with roughly 54 percent air taxi flights, 41 percent general aviation, 4 percent scheduled commercial services and a small proportion of military movements. It is home to about 112 based aircraft, the majority single-engine types. Scheduled carriers operating from the field have included Alaska Airlines to Anchorage, along with regional operators such as Grant Aviation, Ryan Air and Yute Commuter Service linking Bethel with numerous village airstrips across the delta.