Cape Sarichef Airport Explained

Cape Sarichef Airport
Iata:WSF[1]
Icao:PACS
Faa:26AK
Type:Private
Owner:U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Location:Unimak Island
Elevation-F:291
Elevation-M:89
Coordinates:54.5844°N -164.9058°W
Pushpin Map:USA Alaska
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of airport in Alaska
Pushpin Label:WSF
R1-Number:6/24
R1-Length-F:1,900
R1-Length-M:579
R1-Surface:Gravel
R2-Number:16/34
R2-Length-F:3,500
R2-Length-M:1,067
R2-Surface:Gravel
Footnotes:Source: Federal Aviation Administration[2]

Cape Sarichef Airport was a small landing strip located on the western end of Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands of the U.S. state of Alaska. It was used to supply and support a United States Coast Guard LORAN station and U.S. Air Force DEW Line site during the Cold War.

It is now a private-use facility owned by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and managed by the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

Cape Sarichef was named in 1816 by Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue after Admiral Gavril Sarychev of the Imperial Russian Navy.

Facilities

Cape Sarichef Airport has two runways:

History

The airport was built in 1958 to support Cape Sarichef Air Force Station, a Cold War United States Air Force Distant Early Warning Line radar station. The station was operated by Detachment 3, 714th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron based at Cold Bay Air Force Station, near Cold Bay, Alaska. 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.

References

  1. Web site: Airline and Airport Code Search. IATA. 22 April 2016.
  2. , retrieved 2007-03-15

External links