Wales Airport
IWK · PAIW · Wales, Alaska · Nome County · map
Wales Airport is a public-use airport, 1 mile northwest of Wales, Alaska, 26 feet above sea level. Its one runway, 18/36, is 3,990 feet of gravel.
Weather right now PAIW · observed 11:56 am AKDT (19:56 UTC), 42 minutes ago
MVFR flyable but watch the ceiling and visibility
- Wind from the north-northeast (020°) at 17 knots, gusting to 20
- Visibility 10 miles or more
- Sky: overcast at 2,000 feet
- Temperature 34°F (1°C), dew point 26°F (-3°C)
- Altimeter 30.00 inHg
No terminal forecast is issued for this station. The nearest forecast is usually at the closest larger airport.
The codes as issued (METAR and TAF)
METAR PAIW 061956Z AUTO 02017G20KT 10SM OVC020 01/M03 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP160 T00111033 FZRANO
From the National Weather Service's aviation weather service, refreshed every few minutes; times are local to the airport with UTC in brackets. For a flight, get your briefing from Flight Service or an approved provider.
The airport
- Codes
- FAA IWK · ICAO PAIW
- Kind
- Airport · open to the public · publicly owned
- Elevation
- 26 feet above sea level
- Control tower
- No control tower
- Attended
- unattended
- Lights
- runway lights see the remarks below; beacon sunset to sunrise
- Repairs
- airframe: none; engine: none
- On the chart
- Nome sectional
- Magnetic variation
- 8E
- In the FAA's files since
- October 1954
Runway
For understanding the field, not for navigation.
| Runway | Length × width | Surface | Lights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18/36 | 3,990 × 75 ft | Gravel, good | Medium-intensity lights |
- Runway 18: PAPI, four lights on the left
- Runway 36: PAPI, four lights on the right, road 15 ft high 600 ft from the end
Radio frequencies
| Common traffic advisory (CTAF) | 123.0 | |
| Iwk and aWOS-3P | 118.525 | |
| Tin City Rco | 122.6 | Tin City · Communications provided by Nome Flight Service on frequency 122.6 (tin city rco). |
| Nome and center (remote transmitter) Low | 133.3 |
Automated weather (AWOS-3P), by phone 907-664-3907.
Wind map live wind over the area, from Windy.com
Colours show wind speed, the moving lines its direction; drag the time bar for the coming days. Map and forecast by Windy.com.
Aircraft registered in Wales from the FAA register
No aircraft on the register list Wales, AK as the owner's town.
Accidents and incidents at or near this airport NTSB records · 1 since 1982, 0 fatal
Cases the NTSB recorded with this as the nearest airport, newest first. Each opens the full report in plain English.
Nearby within 30 nautical miles
The FAA's remarks as written in the airport file
- Easterly winds may cause severe turbulence in vicinity of runway.
- Activate medium-intensity runway lights runway 18/36; PAPI and runway end identifier lights runways 18 and 36 - the common traffic frequency.
- Wind sock light may be out of service.
- High terrain southeast through east.
- Runway conditions not monitored; recommend visual inspection prior to landing.
- Cold temperature airport. Altitude correction required at or below -26C.
- Wind sock lighting inoperative, wind sock may be missing
- Several runway lights broken.
Facts from the FAA's airport file effective October 1, 2026, written out in plain English; weather from the National Weather Service's aviation weather service; registered aircraft from the FAA register as of October 5, 2026; accidents from the NTSB's public database. Owners are shown only when they are an organisation; no person is named. Check the official sources before a flight: this page is for understanding an airport, not for planning one.