Short Final: Runway Obstructions

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Alaskan airports face unique and unusually large runway obstructions, including common wildlife like bears and moose.
  • An extreme example involved a NOTAM reporting a sunken ship in the Ketchikan harbor's East-west seaplane lane.
  • This significant obstruction was communicated to pilots via the airport's ATIS.
See a mistake? Contact us.

In Alaska, runway obstructions can be different. And large. Yes, there are the usual bears and moose. But sometimes it’s really big:

Last December, the following NOTAM was part of the ATIS at Ketchikan International Airport:

“Notices to Airman, there is a sunken ship in the Ketchikan harbor, East‑west seaplane lane, on the west end.”

Mark Helmericks
Anchorage, AK

Sign-up for newsletters & special offers!

Get the latest stories & special offers delivered directly to your inbox

SUBSCRIBE

Please support AVweb.

It looks like you’re using an ad blocker. Ads keep AVweb free and fund our reporting.
Please whitelist AVweb or continue with ads enabled.