Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Wrangell Airport (PAWG) is a state-owned public-use aerodrome serving Wrangell, a city and borough in Alaska's Panhandle with no road access to the outside world. It offers a single hard-surfaced runway with an ILS approach and handles a mix of subsidised airline service, air taxi and general aviation traffic, making it a useful and scenic stop for simulator pilots exploring southeast Alaska.
Wrangell Airport is a state-owned, public-use airport operated by the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Southeast Region, serving the community of Wrangell. Because Wrangell has no road connection to the rest of Alaska, the airport is the town's principal air link, hosting a blend of Essential Air Service jet flights, regional turboprop and floatplane connections, and general aviation and air taxi traffic. For a simulator pilot, it offers an interesting single-runway field set among the fjords and forested islands of the Alaska Panhandle, with an ILS approach adding some instrument-flying interest to an otherwise remote, visually striking destination.
The airport lies about one nautical mile (2 km) northeast of the central business district of Wrangell, on Wrangell Island in southeast Alaska. En-route and overlying air traffic services in the area are provided by Anchorage Center. Flight service in the vicinity is provided by Sitka Radio. Given the airport's remote island location, it operates without its own control tower, relying on a common traffic advisory frequency for local coordination.
The airport has a single physical runway, 10/28, 5,986 feet long with a hard surface. Both ends are lit, and runway 10 is equipped with an ILS approach, giving instrument-rated pilots a precision approach into an otherwise visually demanding, island-bound strip.
Pilots should use the common traffic advisory frequency 122.6 MHz for local calls. Anchorage Center can be reached on 118 MHz for en-route and centre services, and Sitka Radio, the flight service station for the area, operates on 122.45 MHz. Weather observations are broadcast on the automated weather observing system frequency 128.5 MHz. The field elevation is 33 feet, and it is equipped with an ILS serving runway 10.
Wrangell Airport is a long-standing state-owned facility that has for decades been the aerial lifeline for Wrangell, a borough with no road access to the outside world. Its scheduled service has historically been supported by the federal Essential Air Service program: Alaska Airlines was repeatedly reselected under a series of US Department of Transportation orders between 2004 and 2013 to provide subsidised air service linking Wrangell with Cordova, Gustavus, Petersburg and Yakutat in southeast Alaska. The airport's enplanement figures, which exceeded 10,000 passengers annually through the late 2000s and into the 2010s, led to its classification as a primary commercial-service (nonhub) airport in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015 to 2019, based on 11,434 enplanements recorded in 2012.
Wrangell Airport continues to handle a mix of traffic: air taxi operations account for the majority of movements, alongside general aviation flying and a smaller proportion of scheduled commercial service. Around a dozen aircraft are normally based at the field, the great majority single-engine types with a small helicopter presence. Alaska Airlines operates scheduled jet service connecting Wrangell with Ketchikan and Petersburg, while Alaska Seaplanes provides connections to Petersburg and Sitka. The airport remains an important, and for many residents the only, air link to the wider transportation network.