0A7 Hendersonville, NC

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Pbtx0

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Does anyone have experience flying in and out of 0A7 in Hendersonville, NC? My in-laws just moved to the area and I am planning my first trip out there for Thanksgiving. The AFD indicates to use caution when winds get over 10 knots. Also curious as to what procedures people have used getting in and out in marginal VFR conditions given that the airport doesn't have an ODP or any IAPs. Any know what the MVA is and if ATC will allow approaches into Asheville with subsequent VFR approach into 0A7?
 
Big rocks around thar hills, so I'm sure the MVA is high. You can always fly the approach into AVL and when you break out cancel IFR and proceed visually. But again, don't cut it close, big mountains all around there.

AVL not that far of a drive so if you expect bad weather I'd go there. At least there are instrument approaches there. Are you instruments rated, what kind of a plane? Pull up google earth and have a looksee and you'll see those rocks. I flew as an airline pilot in and out of there for 24 years.
 
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yeah, only flown into asheville, sorry.
 
Thanks for the replies. I might just contact Asheville approach or the airport manager. I am instrument rated and looked at flying into Asheville but fuel there is stupid expensive (currently $6.98 / gal) and they have some pretty high overnight fees. My plan is to file 07A and if I can't get in there then head to KAVL. Just wanted to try and plan out ahead of time so I know what to expect.
 
Pbtx0 said:
Does anyone have experience flying in and out of 0A7 in Hendersonville, NC? My in-laws just moved to the area and I am planning my first trip out there for Thanksgiving. The AFD indicates to use caution when winds get over 10 knots. Also curious as to what procedures people have used getting in and out in marginal VFR conditions given that the airport doesn't have an ODP or any IAPs. Any know what the MVA is and if ATC will allow approaches into Asheville with subsequent VFR approach into 0A7?
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Unfortunately, Hendersonville is short, narrow, and down in a hole. I wouldn't call it hazardous, but places like that make me nervous. As others have said, Asheville is not
far away, and has no such limitations. You still need to be on your toes - I had AVL Approach try to fly me into a mountain once (in fine VFR weather). That was one time I
said UNABLE!. The controller apologized when I pointed out my altitude.

Dave
 
cessna182b said:
Unfortunately, Hendersonville is short, narrow, and down in a hole. I wouldn't call it hazardous, but places like that make me nervous. As others have said, Asheville is not
far away, and has no such limitations. You still need to be on your toes - I had AVL Approach try to fly me into a mountain once (in fine VFR weather). That was one time I
said UNABLE!. The controller apologized when I pointed out my altitude.

Dave
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Thanks for the info. That was my concern. The runway length isn't too much of a concern to me but 40 ft wide and some possibly wacky winds could make it interesting. Throw on top of that some marginal weather and you start to see a chain of events unfolding.
 
Plan on Ashville and then if the wx is good enough cancel and proceed VFR to Hendersonville. Depending how long you'll be there a wx forecast should be good for a short period of time, ie 3-4 days.
 
I emailed the airport manager and he answered some questions for me. I'm going to put this here in case anyone else in the future needs it.

"Asheville will vector you as low as 4400' msl so about 2400 agl.

If the ceilings are at least 1500, it is not unusual to shoot the approach to KAVL and when you break out, follow I26 SE to 0A7. There is one small mountain between us at 3k msl. I26 runs through the valley."
 
I don't think I've ever been there, but I did just find a discrepancy in WingXPro7:

30328234583_1f1e2f2b98_z.jpg


Specifically, the two conflicting identifiers.
 
Believe it or not, there are two airports side by side. The grass strip (8NC9) is actually a different airport from the paved one (0A7). Odd but true. At least that is how I understand it.
 
It's 3,000x40 that's plenty big enough even for turbo props, most GA planes can operate in half that length and width.

For MVFR, shoot the KAVL LPV, break out straight 10nm shot into 0A7, seems easy enough :dunno:

image.jpg
 
Pbtx0 said:
... AFD indicates to use caution when winds get over 10 knots...
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Did you end up flying into 0A7? How did it go? I'm considering a flight there this weekend and noticed the wind caution. My home airport has nearly identical dimensions so that's not a concern. I've flown once out of AVL and remember <=425 FPM climb out so terrain is a concern. A couple photos in Google Maps, b/c of the perspective, makes takeoffs from 33 look pretty intimidating. Other pictures from a different perspective aren't so bad.
 
I was there in Lady Luscombe about 6 weeks ago. The hardest part was finding a tie down spot. Across from the hangar nearest the road ( S.E. corner of the field, the bottom of the AirNav photo) seemed to work just fine. John the airport owner was very friendly. Don't know what you are flying but I would think most light aircraft would be fine there.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Believe it or not, there are two airports side by side. The grass strip (8NC9) is actually a different airport from the paved one (0A7). Odd but true. At least that is how I understand it.
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Yulp ... that's where Greg Collins of Blue Ridge Sport Flight is located. Got my tail wheel training there nearly 10 years ago. There's about 2400' of grass and the approach for 32 required a bit of a joggle around a poplar tree. Had a blast. Mr. Collins is a gentleman and fine instructor. He was using an Aeronca Champ in those days for TW training:

 
Daleandee said:
Yulp ... that's where Greg Collins of Blue Ridge Sport Flight is located. Got my tail wheel training there nearly 10 years ago.
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I have a bookmark saved for his webpage from about 10 years ago when he offered BFR and tailwheel endorsement combined for $600. He's just over the hill from us.
 
Arnold said:
...John the airport owner was very friendly...
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Yesterday I finally had a chance to fly into 0A7 and can attest to John's friendliness. I can now understand the wind caution. The winds were pretty calm and the flight from CLT was perfectly smooth. Once I cleared the ~3000 foot ridge I encountered some non-trivial bumps which made me wonder what a windy day might be like.
 
I had forgotten about this thread.

About a month ago I flew my Sky Arrow into Hendersonville along with a friend in a Remos. The manager was quite friendly and we had a nice chat about his motorcycles. There was little wind that day, and there was nothing at all remarkable about the airport or runway, at least for our Light Sports. But being in the Appalachians, one must always be on the alert for winds and turbulence.

As an aside, Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Rockies, is just north of there, with this warning: CAUTION: Severe turbulence may be encountered in the vicinity of Mount Mitchell
 
FastEddieB said:
I had forgotten about this thread.

About a month ago I flew my Sky Arrow into Hendersonville along with a friend in a Remos. The manager was quite friendly and we had a nice chat about his motorcycles. There was little wind that day, and there was nothing at all remarkable about the airport or runway, at least for our Light Sports. But being in the Appalachians, one must always be on the alert for winds and turbulence.

As an aside, Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Rockies, is just north of there, with this warning: CAUTION: Severe turbulence may be encountered in the vicinity of Mount Mitchell
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Minor nit. Mount Mitchel is the highest peak east of the Mississippi but not east of the Rockies. The Black Hills in South Dakota have some higher peaks.
 
mscard88 said:
Big rocks around thar hills, so I'm sure the MVA is high. You can always fly the approach into AVL and when you break out cancel IFR and proceed visually. But again, don't cut it close, big mountains all around there.

AVL not that far of a drive so if you expect bad weather I'd go there. At least there are instrument approaches there. Are you instruments rated, what kind of a plane? Pull up google earth and have a looksee and you'll see those rocks. I flew as an airline pilot in and out of there for 24 years.
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Hendersonville is already up on the ridge, so there aren't that many big hills around it. The airport is at 2084' and there are some hills to 3000' about 5 miles south, more 10 miles north and west. Yes, it means if you're IFR an approach is going to keep you up and you need a higher ceiling, but the terrain is not my main concern.

I'm more concerned about the 40' wide runway with no marking. Not that we can't land on runways this narrow, in fact more narrow than this. But it removes some safety margin, 40' is just greater than the wingspan on a 172.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Minor nit. Mount Mitchel is the highest peak east of the Mississippi but not east of the Rockies. The Black Hills in South Dakota have some higher peaks.
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I hereby consider my nit righteously picked.

And to think, Karen and I were just there a couple months ago!

51695821589_df5c3c0d04_z.jpg
 
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bflynn said:
...I'm more concerned about the 40' wide runway with no marking...
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My home airport runway width is 40' so I get plenty of practice :) However, 0A7 has a treeline east of the runway which is closer to the runway than I'm used to. That treeline had my attention and is probably another reason for the wind advisory.
 
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One other thing, I mentioned the wind was light yesterday. The wind direction in CLT was nearly 180 degrees from 0A7 and north of 0A7 it was back to mostly the same direction as CLT. I'm guessing the direction shift is from the mountains channeling the wind and possibly explains why there were bumps even with the light wind.
 
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