Going to Outer Banks, NC

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drotto

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drotto
Next weekend I will be flying down to the Outer Banks. I will be staying in Corolla which is north of Duck and basically the northernmost town on the island. I have the choice of two airports, Currituck County Regional (ONX) or Dare County Regional (MQI). I know both are decent picks.

I know MQI is probably the more popular pick, and puts you in the heart of the Outer Banks. It is a slightly shorter drive to my final destination by 9 miles, but takes you though the most trafficked areas of the island. I know services are good, and rental cars are easy. But the airport is about an additional 10 minutes of flight time ( I am coming from the north).

ONX is quieter and the services may not be quite as good. I have already looked at getting a rental car, and it is possible to have one waiting on the field, but requires a little bit more planning than MQI. It is slightly further from my destination, but the driving time is about a wash due to less traffic based on the total route.

Is there any major advantage to either airport I am missing? IS there a clear cut better place to use, as I have never been to either airport?
 
NJ. Not sure if I will be leaving out of KBLM (plane lives there) or N87 (less then 10 minutes from my house, so may move plane a day or so early) yet.
 
Just wait for the mid-Currituck bridge to be built and it'll cut the trip from ONX to Corolla to 25 minutes. It should happen any day now ;-)
 
MQI. There are two routes north, one by the beach, which is ridiculous traffic, and a four lane a little inland that gets you by the worst of the traffic until a few miles south of Duck. The sunsets at Duck are not to be missed. People pull their cars to the side just to watch.
Love it there.
 
We just got back from there. Parked at MQI for 5 days. That is one busy airport! Nonstop beach tours, banner tows, student and military training, etc.
PS - No ramp fees and Uber was available.
 
Not helpful advice here, but let me know how it works out. Might make the trip over here from Charlotte with the wife here soon.
 
MQI would be my choice. Rental car is no problem, call the airport to set it up. Great airport, good people, reasonable fuel prices, cool airplanes. Traffic speed should be about the same either way, so the shorter route should be faster. Recommend lunch at Blue Water Inn at Pirate’s Cove just over the bridge from Manteo. Or, Stripers Bar and Grill on Manteo.
 
I flew into First Flight (KFFA) a couple of years ago, and I was the only plane there all day.
The down side is you can only park there for 24 hours.
 
You don’t want to cross the Wright memorial bridge on a Saturday. Much better traffic from Manteo. Regardless, traffic on NC-12 from Southern Shores north will suck on a Saturday unless you go real early or much later in the day.
 
We actually ate at Stripers a couple weekends ago during a vacation to Manteo/OBX for my kid's 3rd bday. Our waitress hooked us up with a recommendation for this random ultrasound place that specializes in earlier gender ID in VA beach. Wouldn't have used it normally, but since I will be gone for work during standard 20 week check, we did it this weekend. Turns out #2 is a boy as well :)
 
Brad Z said:
Regardless, traffic on NC-12 from Southern Shores north will suck on a Saturday unless you go real early or much later in the day.
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I lived at 9.5MP (Kill Devil Hills...spitting distance from First Flight). My roommate worked 4 days a week at a place that was literally 2 minutes from our house. The 5th day was at their Duck location. Wouldn't you know, they'd often schedule her for Saturday in Duck.

The 13+/- Miles from our house to her job would sometimes take over an hour, one way. She wasn't generally a happy person; toss a 1 hour/13 mile drive, each way, into the mix and I usually avoided conversation for the day.
 
You've already identified the advantages and disadvantages - ONX will probably get you to Corolla faster but it needs more advance planning. MQI will certainly put you in the middle of traffic if you arrive at the wrong time and it may be an extra hour in the car each way.

Also remember that if the rental car is Enterprise, they usually want you to come back to the office to sign a contract. If they want you to go back to Elizabeth City, forget it and just endure the Kitty Hawk traffic. It's a 25 minute drive in the wrong direction with no option except to drive 25 minutes back in the right direction.

When "next weekend" are you coming? It makes a big difference if you arrive Friday morning vs Friday evening vs Saturday morning.
 
probably no help to you if your plans are set, but it seems like a missed opportunity for a pilot not to use the plane to skip around to destinations up and down the coast in a way that avoids the traffic chokepoints. All other considerations aside, I'd rent a place at Ocracoke, then do day trips up the coast.
 
The car rental at MQI is painless. They had mine waiting on the ramp, drop off same place. Duck restaurant rec; the Paper Canoe deck at sunset. Good food reasonable price, but really hard to get a table. The Yacht club isn't private, so don't let that scare you off. The restaurant across the street is 4 star, and priced to match.
 
I'm enjoying this thread. Leslie and I are flying up to Ocracoke in a few weeks. We love flying up and down the coast and visiting new airports. Last time we were there we visited First Flight, but it must have been 100 degrees so I didn't really get to enjoy it as much, until we got to back to Howard's Pub and had a cold one.
 
I set it up at KMQI. I will be arriving on Sunday, more than likely. I may go Saturday night depending on the weather. I have the car set up and it will be waiting on the ramp. Only car issue is I am getting charged an extra day because the local Enterprise is only open on weekdays. To avoid going to the rental office all you need to do is set up a online account, with all you info.

I called the airport and they said just come on down, tie down space is not an issue. Hope they are right.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
drotto said:
I set it up at KMQI. I will be arriving on Sunday, more than likely. I may go Saturday night depending on the weather. I have the car set up and it will be waiting on the ramp. Only car issue is I am getting charged an extra day because the local Enterprise is only open on weekdays. To avoid going to the rental office all you need to do is set up a online account, with all you info.

I called the airport and they said just come on down, tie down space is not an issue. Hope they are right.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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Lots of ramp space at MQI. Great airport, good people, reasonable self serve fuel, and the local company rental car is super easy to rent. If you only need a car for a hour or so they have courtesy cars for the asking. Usually places like this are out in the boonies; not at a popular east coast vacation destination.
 
RoadRunner said:
probably no help to you if your plans are set, but it seems like a missed opportunity for a pilot not to use the plane to skip around to destinations up and down the coast in a way that avoids the traffic chokepoints. All other considerations aside, I'd rent a place at Ocracoke, then do day trips up the coast.
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...Or rent a beach house within walking distance of Billy Mitchell on Hatteras. LOL, I just happen to know someone...
 
Headed to OBX from Iowa last week of August. Was pretty sure I wanted to do ONX but after reading the comments I think MQI might be a better choice.
 
Brad Z said:
...Or rent a beach house within walking distance of Billy Mitchell on Hatteras. LOL, I just happen to know someone...
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You know, plenty of vendors that offer PoA specials.......juuuuust sayin.
 
Made it down in about 2 hours. Weather thought about going south on me, and was on the fence since for the last 25 minutes of the ride was predicting t storms. But since I knew it was clear till southern Virginia I went knowing I may have to stop. There did seem to be about a 2 hr window however. But, luckily the weather held. It was overcast and the ceiling dropped to about 2500 15 miles from MQI, but it never got turbulent and did not see any major buildups.

Logged about 2 minutes actual, and shot the RNAV 23 approach but broke out about 5 miles out and around 2000 feet. So I cancelled IFR and landed visual straight in.

Then at MQI got my 1st ramp check. That seemed to go smooth. He took pictures of all my documents, shook my hand, said everything looked good, and complimented my plane.

Now on vacation.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
drotto said:
Then at MQI got my 1st ramp check. That seemed to go smooth. He took pictures of all my documents, shook my hand, said everything looked good, and complimented my plane.
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Is that what FAA inspectors do when they go on vacation?!? :eek:

Chip Sylverne said:
Duck restaurant rec; the Paper Canoe deck at sunset. Good food reasonable price, but really hard to get a table.
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Agreed! Great place.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Is that what FAA inspectors do when they go on vacation?!? :eek:



Agreed! Great place.
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I had an OSHA inspector admit to me that by inspecting my labor law posters, she could write off some of her vacation expenses to Daytona Beach.
 
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