Departure
95%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (PASI/SIT) sits on a causeway off Japonski Island, just west of downtown Sitka, Alaska, and is the primary gateway to this southeast Alaska community. Alaska Airlines has served the field for more than fifty years, and its single long runway, exposed coastal position and resident bird and weather hazards make it a distinctive destination for visiting pilots.
Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport is a state-owned, public-use airport on Japonski Island, reached by a causeway just west of Sitka's central business district in southeast Alaska. It is named for former Sitka mayor Rocky Gutierrez and has been the community's air link for jet airline service, air taxi operators and general aviation for decades. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting approach over water to a single long runway hemmed in by ocean and terrain, with a mix of airline, floatplane and Coast Guard helicopter traffic in the vicinity.
The airport lies on Japonski Island, immediately west of downtown Sitka, with the runway built out on a causeway projecting into the surrounding waters. Air traffic in the area is worked by Anchorage Center, and the field itself uses a common traffic advisory frequency rather than a local tower. The nearby Sitka Seaplane Base, a short distance to the east, handles floatplane traffic separately from the main runway.
The airport has one physical runway, 11/29, a hard-surfaced strip 6,484 feet long that is lit for night operations. Runway 11 is equipped with an ILS approach, giving instrument-rated pilots a precision approach aid into the field; field elevation is 23 feet.
Pilots can expect ATIS on 135.9 MHz for current field information. Anchorage Center provides en-route control services on 126.1 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency and flight service frequency are both 123.6 MHz, with the Sitka AIR remote communications outlet also using 113.8 MHz for radio/TWEB traffic. A TWEB operations frequency of 34.5 MHz is listed, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz.
Sitka Rocky Gutierrez does not have a local control tower; traffic in the vicinity should monitor and use the 123.6 MHz common traffic advisory frequency, with flight service also reachable on the same frequency for advisories. Given the airport's exposed coastal location, pilots should be prepared for gusty and shifting winds, and for the possibility of ocean waves washing onto the runway during storms, both of which can affect circuit planning and runway selection.
The runway occupies a causeway extending from Japonski Island, making the airport readily identifiable from the air against the surrounding water to the west of Sitka's town centre. The separate Sitka Seaplane Base lies a short distance to the east and should not be confused with the main runway when inbound.
The airport takes its name from Rocky Gutierrez, a former mayor of Sitka. During construction, the graves of deceased tuberculosis patients from the nearby Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, which had been buried on what became airport land, had to be relocated; that section of the airport is still informally known as The Mausoleum. Alaska Airlines has operated into Sitka for more than fifty years, beginning with Boeing 727-100 jet service in 1967 on routes linking Seattle, Sitka, Anchorage and points further north, later adding Convair 240 propliner flights to Juneau and other southeast Alaska stops. By 1969 the route network had expanded further, and over subsequent decades Alaska Air progressed through Boeing 727-200, 737-200 and later 737 variants. In 1986 Anchorage-based AirPac also flew a British Aerospace BAe 146-100 into Sitka on a Seattle-Sitka-Anchorage routing. The airport also hosts a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka helicopter complex, though the Coast Guard's rotary-wing aircraft seldom use the runway itself.
Today the airport has a single terminal with jetway served year-round by Alaska Airlines, which operates Boeing 737-700, 737-800 and 737-900 jets on passenger and cargo freighter flights, alongside seasonal service to Seattle/Tacoma. Smaller regional operators, including Air Excursions and Alaska Seaplanes, connect Sitka to numerous southeast Alaska communities such as Juneau, Ketchikan, Angoon, Gustavus, Haines, Hoonah, Kake, Klawock, Pelican, Skagway and Tenakee Springs. The field also has hangars and offices supporting local air traffic services, the Civil Air Patrol and various private aviation enterprises. Pilots should be aware of the airport's known hazards: ocean waves occasionally washing onto the runway during storms, strong winds owing to the exposed site, and large flocks of birds that live close to the airfield. The airport also appears as the destination in the Microsoft Flight Simulator X mission "Sitka Approach".
