Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Henderson Field (PMDY) is a public airport on Sand Island in the remote Midway Atoll, its single hard-surfaced runway serving mainly as an emergency diversion point for long-haul ETOPS traffic across the Pacific. Like its more famous namesake on Guadalcanal, the field honours Major Lofton R. Henderson, a Marine aviator killed while leading his squadron at the Battle of Midway. For a simulator pilot, it offers a striking picture of isolation: a long, lit runway on a tiny sand island thousands of miles from the nearest large landmass.
Henderson Field is a public airport on Sand Island, part of Midway Atoll in the United States Minor Outlying Islands. It is one of three airfields named after Major Lofton R. Henderson, a US Marine Corps aviator killed at the Battle of Midway, the others being the original Henderson Field on Midway's Eastern Island and the well-known Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Today the field is used chiefly as an emergency diversion point for aircraft operating under Extended-range Twin-engine Operations (ETOPS) rules over the Pacific, giving it a quiet but strategically important role far from any scheduled passenger network.
The airfield sits on Sand Island within Midway Atoll, at 28.2015 N, 177.381 W, in a remote stretch of the central Pacific within the United States Minor Outlying Islands. Given its isolation, the nearest significant landmasses and controlled airspace are far distant, and the field functions largely as a self-contained diversion airport rather than as part of a busy regional airspace structure.
Henderson Field has a single physical runway, 06/24, measuring 7,784 feet with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS available. Field elevation is 7 feet above mean sea level.
Weather information is available through an AWOS on 118.325 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) is 122.9 MHz, with a remote radio outlet (RDO) also listed on 126.2 MHz. No instrument landing system is installed at the field.
Henderson Field takes its name from Major Lofton R. Henderson, a US Marine Corps aviator killed while leading his squadron against Japanese carrier forces during the Battle of Midway, and is one of three airfields that have carried his name. The designation "Henderson Field" originally applied to a military airstrip on Midway's Eastern Island; when all military personnel departed Midway, the name transferred to the airport facility on Sand Island, which continues as the present-day civilian airport. In more recent history, the field has seen occasional high-profile emergency diversions: on 7 January 2004, a Continental Airlines Boeing 777-200 flying from Tokyo to Houston made an emergency landing there after an engine oil leak forced a shutdown, and on 16 April 2021 a United Airlines Boeing 787-9, en route from Guam to Los Angeles, diverted to Henderson Field after a smoke or odour smell was detected in the cockpit.
Henderson Field continues to operate as a public airport on Sand Island and is specifically maintained as an emergency diversion airfield for ETOPS operations across the Pacific, rather than as a hub for scheduled or general aviation traffic. Its long, lit runway and remote position make it a valuable safety net for long overwater flights, as demonstrated by the diversions of a Continental 777 in 2004 and a United 787 in 2021.