Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Homer Airport (PAHO) is a state-owned, public-use airport on the southern Kenai Peninsula, two nautical miles east of downtown Homer, Alaska, overlooking Kachemak Bay. It offers a single long, lit asphalt runway with an ILS approach, making it a useful and scenic waypoint for simulator pilots exploring the Cook Inlet region.
Homer Airport is a state-owned, public-use airfield serving the town of Homer on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. It functions as the primary commercial service airport for the southern Kenai Peninsula and eastern Cook Inlet, handling scheduled airline flights, air taxi operations and general aviation, with an adjacent floatplane base on Beluga Lake adding to its appeal for sim pilots seeking varied Alaskan bush-flying scenery.
The airport lies about two nautical miles east of Homer's central business district on the Kenai Peninsula, with Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet close by. Anchorage Center provides overlying air traffic control services in the wider area. A separate floatplane facility operates from nearby Beluga Lake, which is itself a busy seaplane base during the summer months.
The airport has a single physical runway, 04/22, 6,688 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 04 is equipped with an ILS approach, giving instrument-capable traffic a precision option into the field. Field elevation is 43 feet.
Homer's automated surface observation is broadcast on ASOS 135.65 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency is 123.6 MHz, which also serves as the flight service station frequency, while UNICOM operates on 123.05 MHz. A TWEB/RDO navigation aid transmits on 114.6 MHz, and Anchorage Center can be worked on 125.9 MHz for overlying control services.
Beluga Lake, immediately adjacent to the airport, is a prominent visual feature and a busy floatplane base in summer, useful for orientation. The Homer Spit and Kachemak Bay lie a short distance to the southwest, with the town of Homer itself just two nautical miles west of the airfield.
Homer Airport has a long history of scheduled airline service. Pacific Northern Airlines, successor to Woodley Airways which began Alaskan operations in 1932, was flying Douglas DC-3s into Homer by 1950 on routes linking Anchorage, Kenai, Kasilof, Ninilchik, Kodiak and Homer. By 1965 Pacific Northern had upgraded to four-engine Lockheed Constellation propliners, offering three weekday nonstop flights to Anchorage, Kenai and Kodiak, with connecting Constellation service via Anchorage to Boeing 720 jet flights to Seattle. Western Airlines acquired Pacific Northern in 1967 and continued Constellation services, later operating Lockheed Electra turboprops, before withdrawing from Homer in the early 1970s. Wien Air Alaska subsequently served the airport with Fairchild F-27B turboprops in the mid-1970s and Boeing 737-200 jet service into the early 1980s, with twice-weekly nonstop 737 flights to Anchorage and Kodiak recorded in 1979. The airport was the scene of a serious accident in November 1987 when a Beechcraft 1900C operated by Ryan Air Service, arriving from Kodiak, crashed with 22 aboard, killing 18, an accident attributed to overloading and a centre of gravity beyond specified limits.
Homer Airport remains a state-owned, public-use primary commercial service airport. Scheduled service is provided by Aleutian Airways to Anchorage and by Smokey Bay Air to the nearby communities of Nanwalek, Port Graham and Seldovia, alongside numerous air taxi, sightseeing, and fly-in fishing and hunting operations. A floatplane haul-out facility operates on adjacent Beluga Lake. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, working with the FAA, has been carrying out runway and taxiway rehabilitation and safety improvements, with construction work including temporary closures continuing into 2025, and the airport has designated areas for assigned-space aircraft parking.