Using the Nanwalek airstrip brings to mind Hudson Stuck's observation about running sled dogs at 50 below zero: It's all right as long as it's all right. Villagers, air taxi operators and pilots who fly in and out of Nanwalek all say the same thing. If the runway hasn't washed out from winter storms, if strong winds don't blow out of the east and if an experienced pilot is at the controls, taking off and landing can be safe. If something goes wrong particularly if an easterly wind gusts over 20 knots then things can go bad in a hurry.
"It takes really good, skilled pilots to land on this airport and take off safely," said James Kvasnikoff, second chief of Nanwalek. "I'm really impressed."
"It's the worst airport of the three villages, the poorest maintained. For every adverse condition you can imagine, Nanwalek has it," said Don Seelinger, station manager and a pilot for Olson Air Service, one of three air taxis with regular service to Seldovia, Port Graham and Nanwalek.
The final report from the National Transportation Safety Board for a July 2003 fatal airplane crash of a Smokey Bay Air cargo plane shows the problem. In that crash, the pilot tried to land a Cessna 206 on the 1,850-foot long runway. Witnesses said east-southeast winds gusted between 25 and 40 knots. As the pilot came in on runway 19 the north end of the airstrip he corrected for an easterly crosswind. The Cessna touched down, bounced twice, and the pilot applied full power. To avoid hitting a 677-foot mountain to the south, the pilot made a sharp turn to the west over Cook Inlet and climbed to about 150 feet. Witnesses said the nose of the plane pitched up, the left wing dropped, and the plane fell to the water.
According to the NTSB report, the probable cause of the accident was "the pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during an aborted landing, resulting in an inadvertent stall and subsequent collision with water." Contributing factors were the high crosswinds and the pilot failing to compensate for wind conditions.
The Nanwalek airport, officially called English Bay with the airport code of KEB, runs generally southwest-northeast at an elevation of 27 feet. Charts show the strip runs straight, but Seelinger said from above it curves at the middle. To the south at the approach to Runway 1 is a forested mountain about a quarter mile from the end with a 100-foot high slope above an old cleared area. To the north at the approach to Runway 19 is the village of Nanwalek. The airstrip is built on a spit of land running across a lagoon to the east and tidal flats to the west. Storm tides, such as from last winter, regularly wash out the airstrip or move the beach gravel surrounding it. The last big storm removed fine sand and pebbles from the strip, leaving behind large beach gravel.
"That beach gravel is like trying to walk on marbles," Seelinger said, and can cause the plane's wheels to be skittish on takeoff, landing or taxiing.
Taking off from Nanwalek requires a skilled pilot at the controls. Because both ends have obstacles, about two-thirds of the length of the airstrip is usable, said Andy Smircich, director of operations for Homer Air. The Seldovia and Port Graham airports have one open end.
On takeoff to the south on runway 19, for example, a pilot has to lift off before the end of the runway and then turn to avoid the mountain.
"You had better be turning at that point," said Smircich. "If you end up using the entire length of the runway, you're not going to clear the obstacle."
If the wind blows out of the valley to the east, or crosswind to the runway, it can affect the airspeed of an aircraft as it makes the turn, Smircich and Seelinger both said. As the pilot turns a plane to the right, the plane gets a tailwind and loses performance. The pilot has to accelerate, Smircich said.
"It just means you have to be cautious," he said.
Winds over 20 knots or gusting winds make such a takeoff hard to handle. In marginal situations, a pilot might want to take a lighter load four passengers instead of five or wait for calmer winds, Smircich said.
"It reaches a point where the only sure thing to do is go someplace else," Seelinger said.
NTSB records show eight incidents or accidents in or near Nanwalek (formerly known as English Bay) since 1975. In the same time frame, Port Graham had two accidents. Of the eight Nanwalek events, in five events, high winds or crosswinds were a contributing factor. Most accidents are blamed on pilot error, with language like "the pilot-in-command's inadequate compensation for the crosswind conditions," as in a report of an October 1998 air taxi crash.
While wind and weather conditions cannot be controlled, other factors come into play which can be controlled, Seelinger said. Such factors include the condition of the gravel surface, the layout of the runways, clearing and identifying obstacles and even keeping windsock pivots greased factors which fall under general and seasonal maintenance.
"We need to move Nanwalek airport into a level of safety that's acceptable. You take care of the things you can control," he said.
Seelinger cited a manhole cover sticking up about three feet in the aircraft parking area as an example of some of the maintenance problems. The hazard was listed in the Alaska Supplement, a guide to airports, and marked with orange cones. When the cones weren't maintained around it, rather than fix the problem, the warning was removed from the guide, Seelinger said.
"If there's not a level of maintenance that's acceptable, that's a contributing factor to the safety of the airport," he said.
The state of Alaska owns the Nanwalek airport, and it's maintained by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. DOT&PF contracts out maintenance, such as snow removal, and through the Homer office does other routine maintenance, said Carl High, transportation maintenance supervisor for the Kenai Peninsula. High said in about 90 days the state will start work on repairing the strip. Fill from a nearby material site will be put on the strip to take care of the loose beach gravel. The strip will be leveled off to take out a dip in the middle caused by storm damage, and straightened out. High said a public notice will be posted soon for comments on the environmental impacts of using fill from the nearby site.
"We'll fix it as best we can," High said.
"Hopefully, that will ease the stress on flights coming in and out," Kvasnikoff said.
A repair of the raised manhole cover is also planned, High said, with fill to be placed around it.
The planned repairs are paid for out of a supplemental appropriation and not from the general maintenance fund. High said DOT&PF has sufficient funds to do routine maintenance.
Rural airports can receive federal funding for upgrades and other long-term fixes under the Airport Improvement Program, said Joette Storm, community affairs specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration. Because the Nanwalek airport doesn't meet FAA standards, it's not eligible for federal grants, said Rex Young, area planner for DOT&PF. For example, federal guidelines stipulate a 20-to-1 slope airfield.
"You're not supposed to have anything penetrating that," he said, "and you have plenty of it there."
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
