Airport of the Week: KMCD - Mackinac Island Airport - The Island With No Cars, So Bring Fuel and an Overnight Bag

Mackinac Island feels like time travel, and KMCD is the portal.

KMCD (Mackinac Island Airport) sits on a little island in northern Michigan, up in the Straits where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron squeeze past each other. The island itself is famously car-free. That’s not marketing fluff. Cars have been banned on Mackinac Island for more than a century, and day-to-day life still runs on horses, bikes, and walking. Deliveries, trash, luggage, grocery runs, hotel guests, all moved on horse-drawn wagons, with snowmobiles taking over in deep winter.

From a pilot’s point of view, that alone already makes KMCD different. You’re not flying into “just another 3,500 foot strip in the Midwest.” You are flying into the only practical year-round supply line for an island that otherwise shuts off from the mainland when the ferry lanes ice over. In the dead of winter, this airport goes from “cute destination” to literal lifeline for the people who live there. Airplanes show up with food, medicine, mail and hardware, and those supplies get offloaded by hand onto sleds or horse-drawn rigs. It’s modern GA meets 1890s logistics. Check out this short video about Mackinac Island in the winter.

The runway and why you should respect it

KMCD has one runway, 8/26, which measures about 3,501 feet long and 75 feet wide, sitting around 740 feet MSL. Edge lighting is medium intensity, markings are non-precision, and traffic is left pattern on both ends.

If you’re used to big, friendly regional airports with 5,000-plus feet of pavement and full services, this is not that. KMCD is not a “show up, grab fuel, and blast out” kind of stop. There is no fuel. None. The published data is very clear: no 100LL, no Jet A. If you need gas, you’re looking at nearby mainland airports like 83D - Mackinac County Airport that has both 100LL and Jet A. Translation: you plan your reserves before you’re over the water, not after you’re shutting down on the ramp. Good thing, 83D is only 5 miles north west.

Parking is on the ramp near the small terminal. Space is finite, and there are overnight fees. This is one of those places where “yeah, we’ll just pop in for lunch” can quietly turn into “we’re staying the night.” That’s not a bad thing on Mackinac Island, but it’s something you want to budget for. There is also a landing fee ($15 for a single piston engine plane as of November 2025).

Weather: the real reason KMCD is interesting

Weather is the heart of the story here.

KMCD lives in a narrow slice of the Upper Great Lakes, which means you get the full mood swing of the Straits. In summer you can get haze, humidity, and low visibility off the lake. In shoulder seasons, you can see fog creep in fast over cold water. In winter, you’re dealing with snow bands, ice, wind over open water, and ceilings that can trap you on either side of the Straits. The island depends on air service most in the exact months when flying there is the most demanding. That’s the classic “this airport will teach you respect” profile.

Think about the approach picture. You’re over dark water in marginal visibility, aiming for a non-towered, single-runway strip that may be snow-covered or slick depending on lake effect and temperature swings. The surface is maintained, but this is not a major airport with plows on standby like a big airline hub. Once you’re on the island, there is no rental car waiting for you, and in a winter snap even the horse taxis slow down. Sometimes weather shuts the airport down for days.

This isn’t just academic. This is exactly the kind of place where complacency about ceilings, crosswind or braking action becomes a story. It has had its fair share of accidents.

Ground ops: after you land, the time machine starts

Here’s where KMCD goes from “cool” to “unbelievable.” When you shut down, you’re not calling an Uber. You’re calling a horse. The Mackinac Island Taxi Service is literally a horse-drawn taxi, radio dispatched, cash only. In peak season, they’ll run around the clock. In the off-season, you book them ahead. Snowmobiles pick up some slack in deep winter, but the core idea is the same: aviation plugs directly into a horse-based logistics network.

That means your flight planning mindset should include “what happens after shutdown.” Bring what you need. Dress like you might be outside in Great Lakes wind for a bit, because you probably will. You are on an island in Lake Huron, not a suburban FBO.

Also worth calling out: because the island is state-park managed, the airport is overseen by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. This is not just a utility strip. It’s part of preserving a place that intentionally still feels 19th century.