Departure
87%
vs 95% ▼ 8
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Mekoryuk Airport is a small state-owned airfield on the north shore of Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea, serving the Yup'ik community of Mekoryuk in the Bethel Census Area of western Alaska. It offers a single lit gravel-surfaced strip in an otherwise uncontrolled, remote stretch of Alaskan airspace, making it a straightforward but atmospheric bush-flying destination for the simulator pilot. Scheduled service is limited to small commuter aircraft linking the island to Bethel and St Mary's.
Mekoryuk Airport is a state-owned, public-use aerodrome serving the small community of Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island, an isolated island in the Bering Sea off the western Alaskan coast. It is the only significant airfield on the island and functions as the community's main link to the outside world, handling scheduled commuter flights as well as general aviation and bush traffic. For the simulator pilot it offers a genuine taste of remote Alaskan flying: a single lit strip, uncontrolled airspace, and dramatic surrounding terrain including the island's famous musk-ox range.
The airfield lies in uncontrolled Class G airspace beneath the overlying Anchorage Center area, roughly three nautical miles west of the central business district of Mekoryuk village, on the north shore of Nunivak Island at the mouth of Shoal Bay. Nunivak Island itself sits around 30 miles off the mainland Alaskan coast in the Bering Sea, isolated from other airfields, with Bethel the nearest significant hub some distance to the east across open water and tundra. There is no control tower and no other controlled airspace in the immediate vicinity.
The airfield has one physical runway, 06/24, 3,641 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting on both ends. There is no ILS or other precision approach aid associated with the runway.
Traffic operates on the CTAF of 122.9 MHz in the absence of any control tower. An automated weather observing system (AWOS-3) broadcasts on 123.9 MHz. Anchorage Center can be reached on 124.5 MHz, and a flight service station frequency of 122.0 MHz is also listed. Kenai Radio provides a TWEB broadcast on 32.3 MHz. No instrument approach procedures are noted for the field.
With no control tower present, arriving and departing traffic is expected to self-announce on the CTAF of 122.9 MHz and integrate with any other traffic in the circuit. No published circuit heights or local noise-abatement procedures are available for this field.
The runway sits at the mouth of Shoal Bay on the north coast of Nunivak Island, with the village of Mekoryuk visible roughly three nautical miles to the east along the shoreline. The island's coastline, tundra terrain, and the presence of the introduced musk-ox herd in the surrounding area serve as useful visual cues when approaching from over the Bering Sea.
Nunivak Island has been inhabited by the Nuniwarmiut, or Nunivak Cup'ig people, for around 2,000 years, with first European contact recorded in 1821 by Russian-American Company explorers. Mekoryuk itself grew through the twentieth century as the island's population centre, particularly after a school was built there in 1939 and reindeer herding was introduced from 1920, later followed by the introduction of musk ox from Greenland in 1934 to help save the species from extinction. The airport was built in 1957, with formal airport operations beginning in October 1960, and it became the community's essential air link during a period of considerable social change on the island in the 1950s and 1960s.
The airfield remains a state-owned, public-use facility with no control tower, serving as the primary air link for the community of Mekoryuk. Grant Aviation currently provides scheduled service connecting Mekoryuk to Bethel and St Mary's. Given its remote location, pilots should expect basic facilities typical of small rural Alaskan airfields.
