Ralph Wien Memorial Airport

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport

IATA: OTZ – ICAO: PAOT – FAA LID: OTZ

OTZ
Location of airport in Alaska

Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Alaska DOT&PF - Northern Region
Serves Kotzebue, Alaska
Elevation AMSL 14 ft / 4 m
Coordinates 66°53′05″N 162°35′55″W / 66.88472°N 162.59861°W / 66.88472; -162.59861
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 5,900 1,798 Asphalt
17/35 3,876 1,181 Gravel
Statistics (2004)
Aircraft operations 59,860
Based aircraft 52

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (IATA: OTZ, ICAO: PAOT, FAA LID: OTZ) is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) south of the central business district of Kotzebue, a city on the Baldwin Peninsula in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska.[1]

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
Ravn Alaska Ambler, Deering, Noatak, Noorvik, Selawik, Kiana, Point Hope

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 Dolen, 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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for OTZ (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-07-05
  2. 1 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. 1 2 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. Retrieved 27 August 2014.

External links

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