William B Bolton Airport
Y87 · Empire, Michigan · Leelanau County · map
William B Bolton Airport is a public-use airport owned by Empire Village/Twp, 3 miles southeast of Empire, Michigan, 944 feet above sea level. It has 2 runways; the longest, 17/35, is 2,600 feet of asphalt.
The airport
- Codes
- FAA Y87
- Kind
- Airport · open to the public · publicly owned
- Owner
- Empire Village/Twp
- Elevation
- 944 feet above sea level
- Control tower
- No control tower
- Attended
- unattended
- Lights
- runway lights see the remarks below
- Repairs
- airframe: none; engine: none
- Parking
- hangar, tiedown
- On the chart
- Green Bay sectional
- Magnetic variation
- 4W
- In the FAA's files since
- August 1948
Runways 2
For understanding the field, not for navigation.
| Runway | Length × width | Surface | Lights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17/35 | 2,600 × 50 ft | Asphalt, fair | Low-intensity lights |
| 09/27 | 2,235 × 150 ft | Grass, fair |
- Runway 17: threshold displaced 200 ft, 2,400 ft available for landing, trees 10 ft high 200 ft from the end
- Runway 35: threshold displaced 182 ft, 2,400 ft available for landing, brush 16 ft high 380 ft from the end
- Runway 09: threshold displaced 217 ft, brush 17 ft high 50 ft from the end
- Runway 27: threshold displaced 270 ft, road 15 ft high 33 ft from the end
Radio frequencies
| Common traffic advisory (CTAF) | 122.9 |
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 Empire from the FAA register
1 aircraft are registered to owners in Empire, Michigan: 1 piston twin. Not every one of them is based at this airport; the based-aircraft count above is the FAA's figure for this airport alone.
Individuals are counted, never named. All aircraft registered in Michigan.
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
- Estabd bfr 1959.
- Activate low-intensity runway lights runway 17/35 - the common traffic frequency. Low-intensity runway lights runway 17/35 out of service NOV-APR.
- Closed DEC-MAR and when SN covd except for ski equipped aircraft, no SN removal.
- +9 feet fence, 90 feet dist, 125 feet L/R.
- +15 feet road, 105 feet dist, 125 feet L/R.
- Runway and dthr marked with 3 feet yellow cones.
- Runway and dthr marked with 3 feet yellow cones.
- Ctlg obstruction exceeds a 45 degrees slp.
- Approach ratio 20:1 to dthr.
- Approach ratio 20:1 to dthr ovr 88 feet trees, 1760 feet dist, 100 feet R.
- Uneven rolling trrn.
- Runway 35 wind sock 110 feet east of runway centerline.
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.