Personal aviation opens up a world of interesting and beautiful places to visit and recreate, places that reward us for the time, training and skill to get there. Some places would be inaccessible except by horse, foot or airstrip, like the canyons, rivers and vistas of the Mountain West. Some places beckon because they offer a challenge or have a unique characteristic that makes arrival its own reward, like Furnace Creek airport in California and Lake County Airport in Colorado. These represent the lowest and highest elevation airports in the U.S. for those seeking a bucket-list experience.
And then there are those special places to visit with your plane that are absolutely unique. Any landing spot that requires consulting a tide chart to see if the runway exists meets the test. One such “runway” is the Copalis State Airport (S16), on the Washington coast, which exists only once or twice a day, depending on the tide, not unlike the mythical Scottish town of Brigadoon. Ongoing erosion from the nearby Copalis River has already reduced the runway’s estimated 4500-foot length by some 1000 feet, so it is possible that one day the entire airport might cease to exist. For now, at least, you have a chance.
