Point Lay LRRS Airport guide

Point Lay LRRS Airport (ICAO PPIZ) is a public and military airport in Point Lay, a Native village in the North Slope Borough of Alaska on the Chukchi Sea coast. It sits about one mile south of the village. No road connects Point Lay to the rest of the state, so the airstrip is the main link for passengers, mail and supplies.

The U.S. Air Force built the field in 1957 to support the Distant Early Warning Line radar station at Point Lay. The site became Long Range Radar Site A-15 in 1989 and was inactivated that year because of soil erosion and budget concerns. The radar was removed in 1998 and the remaining military buildings around 2000. The airport stayed open for the village. The U.S. Government, through the 11th Air Force at Elmendorf, is listed as the owner.

A single gravel runway serves the field. Wikipedia gives its elevation as 25 feet. Traffic is light: the FAA recorded 120 aircraft operations in the 12 months ending December 31, 2005, split between air taxi, military and general aviation. Small commuter aircraft fly the main route to Utqiagvik, which carried about 1,000 passengers between June 2010 and May 2011.