Departure
88%
vs 95% ▼ 7
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Lake Hood Seaplane Base sits on Lakes Hood and Spenard in Anchorage, Alaska, immediately alongside Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. It is the world's busiest seaplane base, handling an average of around 190 floatplane movements a day, and also incorporates a gravel strip for wheeled aircraft. For a sim pilot it offers a distinctive mix of water lanes, a dirt runway and heavy general-aviation float traffic in a single, compact Alaskan aerodrome.
Lake Hood Seaplane Base is a state-owned aerodrome in Anchorage, Alaska, comprising a set of water lanes on Lakes Hood and Spenard together with an adjacent gravel strip, Lake Hood Strip. It is open to the public and operates continuously, and is renowned as the world's busiest seaplane base, with an average of about 190 aircraft movements a day. Its interest to a simulator pilot lies in the sheer density of floatplane traffic mixing with wheel and ski operations at a single field, right next to a major international airport.
The base lies about three nautical miles southwest of downtown Anchorage and sits directly adjacent to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Its close proximity to that major international field, and the concentration of general aviation and air taxi traffic it generates, make careful visual awareness essential when operating in and around the lakes.
Lake Hood offers four physical runways. The main water lane, aligned 39W/43W, is 4,518 feet long. A second water lane, 37W/41W, measures 1,928 feet, and a third, 40W/44W, is 1,369 feet. Alongside the water lanes, the Lake Hood Strip provides a dirt runway aligned 14/32, 2,649 feet in length, for wheeled aircraft. Field elevation is 75 feet. There is no ILS at the field.
No specific communications frequencies are published for Lake Hood in the aeronautical data available. The base does have an operating control tower, reflecting the volume of traffic using the water lanes and gravel strip.
Lake Hood is easily identified by its position on Lakes Hood and Spenard, immediately adjacent to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and roughly three miles from downtown Anchorage. The two lakes, joined water areas ringed by floatplane parking and hangars, form the principal visual reference for locating and joining the base.
The seaplane base grew rapidly after the opening of Anchorage International Airport in 1951, which spurred a boom in general aviation activity in the area. By 1957 Lake Hood was already the busiest seaplane base in Alaska and among the busiest in the United States, accounting for some 16 percent of all nationally registered floatplanes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was an early and significant user of the site, building a hangar there in 1950 to support its bush-plane operations; by the 1950s that hangar served as a hub for 44 aircraft operated by eight full-time and 22 part-time pilots. The northeastern side of Lake Hood was later reconfigured to improve aircraft movement and parking, and by 1987 this had helped attract 37 aviation businesses to the area around the two lakes. Growth levelled off after 1987, in part due to rising fuel costs that made frequent flights out to remote homesteads less practical, though the base has remained one of the largest and most active of its kind.
Lake Hood continues to operate continuously and is open to the public, handling an average of around 190 flights a day and supporting a large population of based single and multi-engine floatplanes. During the winter months the frozen lake surface is maintained to allow ski-equipped aircraft to operate. Transient parking is available on the field but is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis, so pilots should be prepared for the possibility of restricted space depending on ongoing construction or occupancy; seasonal operational arrangements apply, and pilots are advised to check current NOTAMs before arrival.