San Juan Pilots Association
Roche Harbor
Roche Harbor Airport (WA09)
No services
This is the OTHER airport on San Juan Island. It's 1,100 ft longer than Friday Harbor, but about the width of a two-lane hiway. Winds generally favor rwy 25, but the occasional cross-wind can be challenging (see below). After parking, a five-minute walk takes you to Roche Harbor Resort, with restaurants, kayaking, fishing, etc. There is much less traffic here, than at Friday Harbor. In addition, Roche Harbor is an aviation community, with hangars at most of the homes on the North side of the field.
While there is no fuel or fbo on the field, a knock on most any door will get you an empathetic and helping hand.
Roche Harbor (WA09) is privately owned, by Roche Harbor Resort, but is for the use of resident and transient aircraft. Tie-downs are on the grassy area on the North side of the West end. It's an easy walk to the resort and marina.
There are two windsocks,one at each end. The links page has a link to a weather station, located at the East end windsock.
With East/West runways, surrounded by trees, North and South winds can cause some interesting cross-wind conditions. As you can see from the photo above, there are cleared areas on the South side of the runway, allowing some momentary gusts, as you travel down the runway. It is unusual, but not impossible for two or more of the windsocks to be pointing in different directions. If that condition exists and the wind velocity is high (over about 12 knots), the more cautious pilots land at Friday Harbor.
High North winds can be blocked at runway height by trees, but be blowing a strong cross-wind at 200 ft AGL, creating some interesting pireps.
For the most part, the summer weather is quite good, and most people land on Rwy 25, with a gentle head-wind, and roll out to the tie-downs on the West end. Due to the long runway length, wind usually isn't a determining factor at velocities under about 10 knots.
During the winter, the areas off the asphalt can get muddy, and the occasional pilot will get stuck, attempting the midfield turnaround on the runway, and dropping a gear into the mud, off the side of the runway.. If it happens, many residents have a supply of plywood and and extra hand. Since unmarked drainage ditches exist, staying on marked taxiways is advisable.
A sunset view from the right window, on left base for runway 07 at Roche Harbor. The long parallel island is Henry Island. The point of the island at the bottom is Pearl Island.
Departing Runway 25 at Roche Harbor. Note the hump in the middle of the runway. The far opposite end cannot be seen from here. Also, note, just above the "5" and to the right, is the entrance to the U-Shaped turnaround/runup area. The low hills on the horizon are in Canada. Victoria Airport is straight ahead and about 10 miles.
