FEATURED AIRSTRIP: CHILDS GLACIER, ALASKA

Each month we highlight an airstrip with hopes that you will get out and enjoy these special places. This month’s Featured Airstrip is Childs Glacier, Alaska, where you can hear the glacier groan.

We know of only one place where you can fly in to a dirt airstrip and set up camp so close to a glacier that RAF Alaska Liaison Al Clayton says, “You can hear it. It’s always moving.” 



Childs Glacier airstrip, near Alaska’s famous Copper River, is adjacent to the Copper River US Forest Service campground. You can set your camp chair close enough to the glacier’s glistening face and hear it pop and groan. Clayton reports that in July when the sockeye run is “hot,” this glacier calves icebergs into the river, sending huge waves across it, sometimes washing salmon up into the alder bushes.


Thanks to an RAF grant, Clayton assembled volunteers to help the Alaska Trails Crew make the old dirt airstrip usable again. They did five weeks’ worth of grounds work over two summer work seasons, and brushed out and lengthened the sea-level runway to about a thousand feet. “The airfield is open for use for bush aircraft. There remain tall tree hazards. You would want to be a confident, skilled pilot to land here,” he said, adding, “The scenery and topography are stunning. It is truly a world class location.”


The region, within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, is as rich in history as it is in scenery. This airstrip lies just north of the 1910 “Million Dollar Bridge” constructed by the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad to provide the first rail access from the tidewater port of Cordova to interior Alaska. The rail line helped tap the incredibly rich Kennicott copper deposit developed with financial support from New York’s Guggenheim and Morgan families. The last ore train trundled over the hazardous tracks in 1938, leaving the right-of-way and the towns of Kennicott and McCarthy to a few hardy residents to fight off the encroaching alder trees. 


After the 1964 earthquake, the State invested in bridge repairs and the Forest Service built the Copper River campground. But washouts have since destroyed bridges downstream from Million Dollar Bridge. Now the only access is over the treacherous river by riverboat; or this short and challenging airstrip. “It’s exciting to see this spectacular venue available for public use again,” Clayton added.

While you’re in the area, consider a visit upstream to McCarthy. It’s retained its authentic Alaska mining feel, and is small but welcoming, accessible by air into its 3,500-ft gravel airport; or by rough road that follows the old CR&NR grade a couple of hours from Chitina. The road ends at the Kennicott River, where you take the pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the river, a half mile from town. Visitors can take a scheduled shuttle to town, and tours of the Kennicott mine are available seasonally.

Submitted April 30, 2024
By Carmine Mowbray

Posted in Featured Airstrip, News

Recent Posts

IF WE COULD . . .

By Kodi Myhre • December 23, 2025
At about this time, every year, we have this conversation at the RAF about what our year end letter (code for asking for your financial support) should say to you, and about the RAF and the accomplishments of the past year.

WORTH THE READ: STEF GOZA GUEST EDITORIAL

By Taylin Trafton • December 23, 2025
Our many RAF supporters have such vast and varied experience, and we’re capturing some of their words of wisdom to share with you. This guest editorial is by Stef Goza, a pilot and an RAF Alaska liaison.

BILL DUGAN IS NEW NEBRASKA LIAISON

By lellington • December 21, 2025
Bill credits aviation for much of his success in business and the ability to serve his companies and family. What began in a Champ, and a Tri-Pacer owned by five people, turned into what Bill calls, “a key business tool” in which he accumulated 9,000 hours – in a Cheyenne, a Pilatus, and a TBM, where ninety-five percent of his flying was for business. “My retirement enabled me to recall ‘Why I Learned to Fly’, a slogan from an old RAF video.” Bill’s son, Patrick, purchased the C185 they now share. “While attending a business function, some associates arrived in corporate jets. As they joined up on the tarmac, the jet pilots gathered around Patrick’s 185, and one of the passengers asked, ‘What’s special about this?’ No explanation needed for this RAF audience,” Bill says. “My involvement in the RAF is, in a partial way, repaying the rewards aviation has endowed me with. Having been involved in many worthwhile nonprofits, this is one where financial support is only part of the picture. Physically participating in great projects that have a lasting effect, with good people, returns a great personal benefit,” he says. “My only regret is that I wasn’t there at the start.” Bill and his wife Jane are privileged to be able to split time between their long-time home in eastern Nebraska and Scottsdale, Arizona. While still serving on several boards, he enjoys golf “about every third shot,” biking, cars, and reading, but always looks forward to the time he can be involved in the RAF. “It’s flying with a purpose,” he adds. Bill can be reached at bdugan@theraf.org

Jake Hampton

December 15, 2025
AR Ambassador

RAF ADDS MICHIGAN LIAISON SCOTT ANTTILA

By Taylin Trafton • December 11, 2025
A Christmas gift of flight lessons from his parents started Scott Anttila’s aviation journey in 1985. “I learned at Johnson Field, a small grass strip tucked into the woods in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and that early exposure to simple backcountry flying stuck with me,” Scott says. Growing up in the U.P., he spent a lot of time outdoors and found that flying was another way to get to the places he liked to explore—especially the ones most people never saw. As he earned more ratings and eventually moved to the Detroit area for work, Scott realized he needed a way to stay connected to northern Michigan. He bought an airplane and used it to get back to the smaller airstrips and lake country he enjoyed. Along the way, he also flew gliders out of Frankfort, soaring along the Sleeping Bear Dunes and towing sailplanes over the Great Lakes. “Those flights gave me a different appreciation for the landscape and made me even more interested in the small, out-of-the-way airports scattered around the state,” he says. Visiting those kinds of places, Scott first came across the Recreational Aviation Foundation. He started using RAF-supported airstrips both inside and outside Michigan. “I noticed how well-kept they were and how much access they opened up,” he says, adding, ”Over the years, I’ve watched a number of grass strips close, which made the RAF’s mission feel especially important to me. Maintaining these airstrips keeps aviation connected to the outdoors and makes it possible for more people to reach the quiet, remote areas that inspired me to fly in the first place.” Scott joins the other two RAF Michigan Liaisons, General Grant and Tanmoy Ganguly. He can be reached at santtila@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.