Nikolski Air Station is an unattended

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located in Nikolski on

Umnak Island Umnak ( ale, Unmax, Umnax; russian: Умнак) is one of the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands. With of land area, it is the third largest island in the Aleutian archipelago and the 19th largest island in the United States. The island is home ...

in the

Aleutians West Census Area Aleutians West Census Area (russian: Западные Алеутские острова) is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,232, down from 5,561 in 2010. It is part of the Unorg ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. This former military airport is now owned by The Aleut Corporation. Scheduled commercial airline passenger service is subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program. Current service to Nikolski is provided by Grant Aviation from Unalaska. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

records, the airport had 165 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 219 enplanements in 2009, and 160 in 2010.

History

The airport was built in 1958 to support Nikolski Air Force Station, a Cold War

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

Distant Early Warning Line radar station on Umnak Island. The station was operated by Detachment 1, 714th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron based at

Cold Bay Air Force Station Cold Bay Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-26, LRR ID: A-08, DEW ID: COB-MAIN) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The ground control intercept (GCI) station F-26 w ...

, near

Cold Bay, Alaska Cold Bay ( ale, Udaamagax,; Sugpiaq: ''Pualu'') is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 108, but at the 2020 census this had reduced to 50. Cold Bay is one of the main commercial ...

. The radar station was inactivated in September 1969, ending military use of the airport. The Air Force remediated the site around 2000, removing all abandoned military structures and returning the site to a natural condition.

Facilities

Nikolski Air Station resides at

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 77 feet (23 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

designated 8/26 with a gravel surface measuring 3,512 by 135 feet (1,070 x 41 m).

Airlines and destinations

Incidents and accident

* On 29 May 1965, a

Reeve Aleutian Airways Reeve Aleutian Airways was an airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It ceased operations on December 5, 2000. History Founding In February 1946, Bob Reeve received a call informing him that some ex USAAF C-47s and Dougl ...

Douglas C-47A The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

(N91016), during the take-off phase, stalled and crashed because a sudden wind gust caused a premature lift-off. The three crew members and the two passengers on board were not injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and left by the side at the end of the airstrip ever since.

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket DOT-OST-1995-363
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

: *
Order 2004-6-20
re-selecting Peninsula Airways to provide essential air service at Atka and Nikolski, Alaska, at annual subsidy rates of $336,303 and $173,603 per year, respectively, for the period ending June 30, 2006. *
Order 2006-5-21
re-selecting Alaska Airlines to provide essential air service at Adak, Alaska, at an annual subsidy rate of $1,393,384, and Peninsula Airways for $449,605 at Atka and $314,694 at Nikolski. The three rates extend through June 30, 2008. *
Order 2008-3-36
re-selecting Alaska Airlines to provide essential air service at Adak, Alaska, at an annual subsidy rate of $1,483,122, and Peninsula Airways for $513,803 at Atka and $469,786 at Nikolski. The three rates extend through June 30, 2010. *
Order 2010-7-9
re-selecting Alaska Airlines to provide essential air service (EAS) at Adak, Alaska, at an annual subsidy rate of $1,675,703, and Peninsula Airways, Inc., for $290,780 at Atka and $639,008 at Nikolski. The three rates extend through June 30, 2012. *
Order 2012-5-20 (May 23, 2012)
selecting Grant Aviation, Inc., to provide essential air service (EAS) at Atka, Alaska, for $842,574 the first year and $822,445 the second year, and at Nikolski, Alaska, for $331,431 the first year and $324,998 the second year.

External links

Airports in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska Installations of the United States Air Force in Alaska Essential Air Service Military installations closed in 1969 Umnak {{Alaska-airport-stub