Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Tom Madsen (Dutch Harbor) Airport sits on Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands, one of the most demanding commercial airfields in Alaska thanks to its short runway squeezed between steep terrain and open water. It serves the fishing port of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor and is a well-known challenge destination for flight simulator pilots, having featured as a mission airport in Microsoft Flight Simulator X.
Tom Madsen (Dutch Harbor) Airport, known by its ICAO code PADU and IATA code DUT, is a state-owned public-use airport serving the City of Unalaska on Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska. It was renamed in 2002 in honour of Charles Thomas Madsen Sr., a local bush pilot killed in an airplane accident that year, though the FAA continues to refer to it as Unalaska Airport. The field is a striking destination for simulator pilots: its short runway, hemmed in by a steep drop into the ocean on one side and rising terrain on the other, combined with typically challenging Aleutian weather, makes it one of the more demanding approaches modelled in popular flight simulator products.
The airport lies near the Bering Sea coast of Unalaska Island, roughly 800 miles southwest of Anchorage and about 1,950 miles from Seattle. It sits on Amaknak Island, connected by a bridge to the main part of Unalaska on Unalaska Island; the town's port area is officially named Dutch Harbor, and the airport is often referred to informally by that name. Overflying traffic in the area is handled by Anchorage Center, and Cold Bay Flight Service Station provides FSS coverage for the region.
The airport has a single physical runway, 13/31, oriented northwest-southeast. Runway 31 is 4,124 feet long and runway 13 is 3,924 feet long; both are hard-surfaced and lit. The runway is bordered on one side by a steep drop into open water and by rising terrain on the other, with both ends also dropping away into water, leaving little margin for error on approach or departure.
Pilots should monitor the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) on 122.6 MHz, which also serves as the frequency for Cold Bay Flight Service Station (FSS). An automated weather observing system (AWOS-3) broadcasts on 125.8 MHz, and airport advisory or miscellaneous radio traffic for Dutch Harbor weather is carried on 129.5 MHz. Overlying en route traffic is worked by Anchorage Center on 121.4 MHz. There is no ILS at the field; historically a microwave landing system (MLS) approach has been available to assist arrivals in the area's frequently poor weather.
Scheduled airline service to the airport was historically provided by a succession of carriers. Reeve Aleutian Airways operated Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops under a codeshare with Alaska Airlines, having flown NAMC YS-11 turboprops on a three-times-weekly Anchorage service as early as 1975. MarkAir later served the field with Boeing 737-200 Combi jets, and Alaska Airlines itself operated 737-200 Combi aircraft carrying mixed passenger and freight loads on the main deck before load restrictions imposed by the short runway, together with weather-related cancellations, led it to move to a codeshare arrangement with PenAir from 2004. PenAir flew Saab 340 and later Saab 2000 turboprops into the field until entering bankruptcy in 2019, with its assets acquired by Ravn Alaska. AirPac also served the airport in the 1980s with British Aerospace BAe 146-100 jets, chosen for their short-field performance, operating direct service to Seattle via Anchorage and Sitka in 1986. On October 17, 2019, a PenAir Saab 2000 operating as flight 3296 from Anchorage, codeshared by Alaska Airlines, went off the runway on landing, resulting in one fatality; Alaska Airlines subsequently suspended its code from Saab 2000 flights into the airport pending the National Transportation Safety Board's findings. The airport has also appeared in popular culture, featuring in the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch, and forms the setting for the 'Dutch Harbor Approach' mission included with Microsoft Flight Simulator X and the 'Aleutian Cargo Run' mission in its Deluxe Edition.
Ravn Alaska now serves the airport using de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 aircraft, following the collapse of PenAir, and Alaska Airlines is no longer directly involved in service to the field. Aleutian Airways offers scheduled passenger flights to Anchorage, and Grant Aviation connects Dutch Harbor with a number of smaller Aleutian communities including Akutan, Atka, Cold Bay, Nikolski, St. George and St. Paul. Alaska Central Express operates air cargo flights linking the airport with Anchorage and Cold Bay. As of the most recent FAA data cited, the field had a small number of based aircraft, predominantly multi-engine types with a smaller ultralight component, and handled a modest volume of operations dominated by scheduled commercial traffic.