Nikolski Air Station is an unattended airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 located in Nikolski

Nikolski, Alaska

Nikolski is a census-designated place on Umnak Island in Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 39 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Nikolski is located at .According to the U.S...

 on Umnak Island in the Aleutians West Census Area

Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska

Aleutians West Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It contains most of the Aleutian Islands, from Attu Island in the west to Unalaska Island in the east, as well as the Pribilof Islands, which lie north of the Aleutians in the Bering Sea. As of 2010, the population is...

 of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. This former military airport is now owned by the Aleut Corporation.

Scheduled commercial airline service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service

Essential Air Service

Essential Air Service is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which, prior to deregulation, were served by certificated airlines, maintained commercial service. Its aim is to maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service to these...

 program. Current service to Nikolski is provided by PenAir

PenAir

Peninsula Airways, doing business as PenAir, is an American airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. It is Alaska's second largest commuter airline operating an extensive scheduled passenger and cargo service, as well as charter and medevac services...

 using a Grumman Goose

Grumman Goose

The Grumman G-21 Goose amphibious aircraft was designed as an eight-seat "commuter" plane for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman’s first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and its first aircraft to enter commercial airline service...

 G-21A.

Facilities

Nikolski Air Station has one runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

 designated 8/26 with a gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

 surface measuring 3,512 x 135 ft. (1,070 x 41 m).

History

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

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 Distant Early Warning Line

Distant Early Warning Line

The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland...

 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

Cold Bay Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located southwest of Anchorage, Alaska....

, near Cold Bay, Alaska

Cold Bay, Alaska

Cold Bay is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States.Cold Bay is one of the main commercial centers of the Alaska Peninsula, and is home to Cold Bay Airport.-History:...

. 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.

External links

• Resources for this airport: