McKinley National Park Airport
airport in Alaska
McKinley National Park Airport (IATA: MCL, ICAO: PAIN, FAA LID: INR, formerly 5MK) is a public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) northeast of Denali Park, in Denali Borough, Alaska, United States. It is owned by the U.S. National Park Service and is located at the Denali National Park and Preserve (previously Mount McKinley National Park).
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport is assigned INR by the FAA and MCL by the IATA. The airport's ICAO identifier is PAIN.
Facilities and aircraft
McKinley National Park Airport has one runway designated 16/34 with a gravel surface measuring 3,000 by 68 feet (914 x 21 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, the airport had 3,200 aircraft operations, an average of 266 per month: 69% general aviation and 31% air taxi. At that time there were 7 aircraft based at this airport: 57% single-engine, 29% multi-engine and 14% helicopter.
See also
List of airports in Alaska
References
External links
Topographic map from USGS The National Map
Norris, Frank (2006). "Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve, Volume I" (PDF). National Park Service.
“McKinley National Park Airport” enters the record as airport in Alaska. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what McKinley, National and Park can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“McKinley National Park Airport” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, McKinley, National and Park provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q652039. Authority coordinates are 63.733, -148.911. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005 and 2006.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “McKinley National Park Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow McKinley National Park Airport primary sources, McKinley National Park Airport archive and McKinley research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “McKinley National Park Airport”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “McKinley National Park Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.