Ralph Wien Memorial Airport

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (IATA: OTZ, ICAO: PAOT, FAA LID: OTZ) is a state-owned public-use airport located on the south side of Kotzebue, a city on the Baldwin Peninsula in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska.[1]

Kotzebue AK airport photographed from a Boeing 737=400 combo aircraft of Alaska Airlines
Ralph Wien Memorial Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerAlaska DOT&PF - Northern Region
ServesKotzebue, Alaska
Elevation AMSL14 ft / 4 m
Coordinates66°53′05″N 162°35′55″W
Map
Ralph Wien Memorial Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 5,900 1,798 Asphalt
17/35 3,876 1,181 Gravel
Statistics (2014)
Aircraft operations60,000
Based aircraft43

Facilities and aircraft

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport covers an area of 1,480 acres (600 ha) which contains two runways. Runway 9/27 has an asphalt paved surface measuring 5,900 x 150 ft (1,798 x 46 m) and runway 18/36 has a gravel surface measuring 3,876 x 90 ft (1,181 x 27 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending April 11, 2008, the airport had 59,860 aircraft operations, an average of 164 per day: 62% general aviation, 33% air taxi, 3% scheduled commercial and 2% military. There are 52 aircraft based at this airport: 77% single engine and 23% multi-engine.[1]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Alaska Airlines Anchorage, Nome
Bering Air Ambler, Buckland, Deering, Kiana, Kivalina, Kobuk, Noatak, Nome, Noorvik, Point Hope, Selawik, Shungnak

Prior to its bankruptcy and cessation of all operations, Ravn Alaska served the airport from multiple locations.

Ralph Wien, pilot

The airport is named in memory of Ralph Wien, a native of Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, born in 1897. He and his younger brother Noel Wien, arrived in Alaska in 1924 and together founded Wien Air Alaska, the first airline in Alaska.[2][3] He died when the Bellanca aircraft he was flying crashed in full view of onlookers in Kotzebue on Columbus Day, 1930. Fr. Philip Delon, Superior general of Alaskan Catholic missions, and Fr. William Walsh, a diocesan priest from Oakland, California, who were on board, also died in the accident.[2][3][4]

The airport was dedicated in 1951 by Governor Ernest Gruening.[4]:340

References
  1. FAA Airport Master Record for OTZ (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-07-05
  2. Dickson, Jr., Roy; McLaren, Dorothy D. "Biographies (W-Y) of 1920s-1930s Era Alaska Bush Pilots". Roy Dickson 1930s Alaska Bush Pilot. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  3. Llorente, Segundo (1990) [1988]. Memoirs of an Alaskan Priest (PDF). Washington, D.C.: New Directions Publishing & Georgetown University Press. p. 60. ISBN 0-87840-494- 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  4. Harkey, Ira (1991). Pioneer Bush Pilot. Bantam Books. p. 291-293. ISBN 0553289195.


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