FAA plan would give a Cook Inlet oil-field airstrip its first instrument approaches

Pilots flying to Hilcorp Alaska's Trading Bay oil field could soon land in weather that currently turns them around.

The FAA has proposed creating controlled airspace over the field's private airstrip on the west side of Cook Inlet, the step that would let two GPS approaches take effect, one to each end of the runway. The strip has no instrument approach on file today, meaning pilots need to see the ground to get in.

Trading Bay is off the road system. Crews, freight and medical flights reach it by air or water.

The proposed airspace would begin 700 feet above the surface and extend upward.

The notice contradicts itself twice. It calls the field "Trader Bay Production Airport," and it places the airspace boundary about 250 feet west of the airstrip while the rule text puts that same line more than two miles further west.

The proposal does not say who operates the airport, though FAA records list Hilcorp Alaska, LLC as owner and manager. An environmental analysis has not been completed, and Hilcorp does not appear in the record.

The notice publishes Tuesday. Comments are due Oct. 2 under docket FAA-2026-5150 at regulations.gov.