Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (PAOT/OTZ) is a state-owned public-use aerodrome serving Kotzebue on Alaska's Baldwin Peninsula, acting as the principal air hub for the Northwest Arctic Borough. It offers a long paved main runway with an ILS approach alongside a shorter secondary runway, and handles a mix of scheduled airline, air-taxi and general aviation traffic to numerous surrounding bush communities.
Ralph Wien Memorial Airport lies on the south side of Kotzebue, a city on the Baldwin Peninsula in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough. It is a state-owned, public-use field operated by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and functions as the region's key transportation hub, with Alaska Airlines providing scheduled jet service to Anchorage and Bering Air operating commuter flights to a wide network of surrounding villages including Ambler, Buckland, Cape Lisburne, Deering, Kiana, Kivalina, Kobuk, Noatak, Nome, Noorvik, Point Hope, Selawik and Shungnak. The airport is named in memory of Ralph Wien, one of Alaska's pioneering bush pilots, giving it a strong connection to the early history of Alaskan aviation that will interest sim pilots retracing bush-flying routes.
The airport sits on the Baldwin Peninsula on the south side of Kotzebue, within the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska. Anchorage Center provides enroute air traffic services on 119.2 MHz, and Kotzebue Radio flight service station is available on 122.2 MHz for flight following, weather and other pilot services in this remote Arctic region.
Ralph Wien Memorial Airport has two physical runways. Runway 09/27 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway measuring 5,859 ft on runway 09 and 6,258 ft on runway 27, with an ILS approach serving runway 09. Runway 18/36 is also hard-surfaced and lit, measuring 3,846 ft in each direction. Field elevation is 10 ft.
Traffic at Kotzebue should monitor the CTAF on 123.6 MHz for airport advisories. Automated weather is broadcast on the ASOS/ATIS frequency of 135.45 MHz. Kotzebue Radio, the local flight service station, operates on 122.2 MHz, with a TWEB broadcast also listed on 115.7 MHz. Anchorage Center handles enroute control on 119.2 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.8 MHz. An ILS approach serves runway 09.
Specific published circuit heights, joining instructions or noise abatement procedures for Kotzebue are not detailed in available sources; pilots should monitor the CTAF on 123.6 MHz for traffic advisories in the vicinity of this non-towered field and coordinate with Kotzebue Radio as required.
The airport is named in memory of Ralph Wien, born in 1897 in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, who arrived in Alaska in 1924 with his younger brother Noel Wien and together they founded Wien Air Alaska, the territory's first airline. Ralph Wien died on Columbus Day, 1930, when the Bellanca aircraft he was flying crashed in full view of onlookers in Kotzebue; Fr. Philip Delon, Superior General of Alaskan Catholic missions, and Fr. William Walsh, a diocesan priest from Oakland, California, who were both on board, also died in the accident. The airport itself was formally dedicated in 1951 by Alaska Governor Ernest Gruening.
Ralph Wien Memorial Airport covers around 1,480 acres and remains a busy regional hub, with Alaska Airlines flying scheduled services to Anchorage and Bering Air connecting Kotzebue to numerous outlying villages across the Northwest Arctic. Historical FAA figures recorded around 59,860 aircraft operations a year, averaging 164 movements a day, split roughly 62 percent general aviation, 33 percent air taxi, 3 percent scheduled commercial and 2 percent military, with around 52 aircraft based at the field, the majority single-engine types.