Landing and taking off in a small plane can be tricky. Doing it on ice, as 164 people did last Saturday, must be a lot trickier. Right?

Not really, said William McGowan of Gilford, a pilot with American Airlines for 32 years, as he watched traffic at Alton Bay Ice Runway on Sunday. “An airplane … it doesn’t really care about its contact with the ground. So in a lot of ways, ice is even easier for landing and taking off than asphalt is, because asphalt is sticky and unforgiving.”

The important thing to pilots here is the wind, which on the lake usually comes out of the west or northwest, he said. Since planes take off due north on the ice runway, winds can make them yaw, or go sideways, while on the ground. That’s why snow is plowed to create a runway that’s at least 100 feet wide, more than most small airports: to increase margin of error.

“If you start to yaw on ice, it’s okay. You just slide along sideways for a while. So the wind is the most important thing,” said McGowan. The runway closes if the wind gets too high, as happened once last week.

McGowan was one of hundreds of people who have flocked to Alton Bay on the south side of Lake Winnipesaukee since Jan. 24, when the ice runway opened for the first time since 2022. Locals come to watch the fun while pilots from as far away as Texas have flown their small private planes to experience the only FAA-certified ice runway in the Lower 48. It’s their best chance to tick an item off their aviation bucket list and collect an “ice chip” memento to take back to their home airport for bragging rights.

As of Tuesday, the airport had been open seven days this year, closing for high winds or snow. It will be closed until Saturday because of coming snowstorms, since it takes up to eight hours for plows to clear the runway, taxiway and the area for plane parking. “The good news is the ice is better than it has looked in years and the temperatures look good to maintain it, so we should have a long season,” the site posted on its Facebook page.

By law, the runway must close by March 15, but it rarely stays open past mid-February.

Social media boom

Alton Bay has had a seaplane base since the 1940s, but pilots didn’t start landing on the ice until the 1960s and the runway wasn’t FAA certified until the 1990s. Its popularity has grown markedly in the past decade due largely to social media.

“Facebook posts – people love those posts!” said Jason Leavitt, the Division of Aeronautics employee who manages the state-owned runway. Interest has also increased as winters have gotten warmer, endangering the tradition: It didn’t open at all in the past two winters.

Last Saturday there were 164 landings at Alton Bay, the most ever in one day. As of Monday, 363 different aircraft have been there.

Alton Bay operates like any airport that lacks a control tower. It is open from sunrise to sunset when conditions allow, with pilots operating under VFR – visual flight rules – announcing their position over the radio and making sure to keep their distance from each other, in the air and on the ground.

The airport is owned by the Division of Aeronautics in the state Department of Transportation. Leavitt, whose job is planner for UAS (unmanned aircraft system, a.k.a. drones), makes the call to open the runway. The ice must be at least a foot thick over a large area – the runway is a minimum of 2,600 feet long, plus there’s a large area for planes to park.

That much thickness, determined by drilling and daily inspection, isn’t needed to hold the planes, since a fully loaded Cessna Skyhawk barely weighs half as much as a tricked-out Ford F150. It’s needed to hold the snowplows.

Leavitt took over management a few years back from Paul LaRochelle, the longtime volunteer who is considered most responsible for the ice runway’s success and is still part of daily operations.

Despite the novelty of a friction-free runway, nobody can remember any dramatic crashes, although there have been some fender-benders, often in the parking area at the south end of the runway. Fear of over-runs into that area is the reason that only north-facing landings are allowed, headed away from the parked planes.

Pilots hoping to experience Alton Bay Ice Runway can check the Facebook page or call the recorded line at 603-271-7398 to see conditions. Notams (notice to airmen) from the FAA may also be available, listed under B18, the identifier for the Alton Bay Seaplane Base.

“On busy days we have people on the ground marshaling airplanes, giving an advisory on conditions. Sometimes the parking area is full, that’s the big limitation. We advise planes in the pattern that it’s full; they might circle in the pattern, wait for somebody to leave. … Some land, then taxi back and take off just to say you did it,” Leavitt said in an earlier interview.

Things get particularly hectic during Alton’s Winter Carnival when the bay draws throngs of people.