NC airports

D

drotto

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
1,162
Location
NJ
Display Name
Display name:
drotto
A few friends of mine are planning on renting a house this summer in the Outer Banks. While flying into Kitty Hawk would be neat it appears they do not permit more than one night tie down. The house they are considering is very near Pine Island Airport, but this appears to be private and will charge 200 to land and does not have overnight space.

So that leaves me with Currituck County and Dare County airports. Both would require car rental and be about 1 hour from my final destination. Granted a 1 hr 45 minute flight followed by a 1 hr drive is way better than a 7 hr 30 minutes drive. I am leaning towards Currituck as it is 16 minutes closer, has cheaper fuel, and looks like the downs are free. But anyone with experience in these airports or other hints would be great.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I stopped at Dare Co. for fuel afger visiting KFFA. It's a nice field.

Watch out for the biplanes giving rides up and down the coast. They are pretty good about talking on the radio.
 
That sounds like a rule they might bend a little? Is there room?
 
Dare County is nice. Currituck is nice also but while they have courtesy cars, getting a rental car there would probably have to come from Elizabeth city. Which is 20 min. in the wrong direction. Be sure to have a meal at the Weeping Radish.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Dare County is nice. Currituck is nice also but while they have courtesy cars, getting a rental car there would probably have to come from Elizabeth city. Which is 20 min. in the wrong direction. Be sure to have a meal at the Weeping Radish.
Click to expand...
So Dare is easier to get a rental car from? If I go the plane will likely be there for 1 week.



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
We always use Dare County - MQI, very good service and rentals available. With that said we stay in Nags Head.

Do you want to have approaches available? Not sure what’s at Currituck.

If you do use MQI and have to head north make a stop at JK’s for the best steaks around.
 
drotto said:
So Dare is easier to get a rental car from? If I go the plane will likely be there for 1 week.



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yes, Dare county is more in the tourist area, where as Currituck Co is surrounded by bean fields. Dare County will be more accustomed to fielding requests like yours. Dare county has a little museum on site about its history during WWII. Worth 20 minutes if you are a history buff. You will have fun but be careful swimming. 3-6 tourists drown each season on the OBX because they are unfamiliar with undertow.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Yes, Dare county is more in the tourist area, where as Currituck Co is surrounded by bean fields. Dare County will be more accustomed to fielding requests like yours. Dare county has a little museum on site about its history during WWII. Worth 20 minutes if you are a history buff. You will have fun but be careful swimming. 3-6 tourists drown each season on the OBX because they are unfamiliar with undertow.
Click to expand...

Sadly I had a high school classmate die off of the Outer Banks a few years ago for that very reason.

Sound like Dare from a convenience standpoint is the better choice. The house they are looking at is up 12 near Pine Island. So about 25 miles away.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
coloradobluesky said:
That sounds like a rule they might bend a little? Is there room?
Click to expand...
Kitty a Hawk is directly associated with the Wright Brothers museum and is owned by the US Park Service. The "MAX OF 24 HRS PARKING PERMITTED. NO MORE THAN TWO OVERNIGHT STAYS PER MONTH" rule is probably to keep people from hogging limited parking spaces.

Of course, maybe calling them and saying, "but it's for ME!" will make a difference.
 
Even if you base at Dare county for the vacation, fly over to First Flight for your visit to the monument/park. It's the law!
 
Dare County...hands down.

On your way out to your spot, check put Manteo.
 
Be aware that that 25 miles might be more like 1+ hours. I lived at the 8.5 milepost, right near line between KDH and Nags Head, and a housemate worked up in Duck. It sometimes took her over an hour to make it in to work (Saturday's).

I'm surprised the pine island strip doesn't have at least a couple of overnight spots... Would have figured that would appeal to a certain vacation renter/owner who would probably pay a decent tie down fee to land and be a golf cart ride from their 12+ bedroom vacation house (not sure if you're headed for one of those monsters, but that's what pine island is filled with).
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
Be aware that that 25 miles might be more like 1+ hours. I lived at the 8.5 milepost, right near line between KDH and Nags Head, and a housemate worked up in Duck. It sometimes took her over an hour to make it in to work (Saturday's).

I'm surprised the pine island strip doesn't have at least a couple of overnight spots... Would have figured that would appeal to a certain vacation renter/owner who would probably pay a decent tie down fee to land and be a golf cart ride from their 12+ bedroom vacation house (not sure if you're headed for one of those monsters, but that's what pine island is filled with).
Click to expand...

Pine Island airport is private and appears to be owned by a charter company based on the website. It says single engine $140 to land. You must have 5 million in liability insurance in order to land ( they make you send them a copy of the policy). It says no parking allowed on the website.

It is very clear they want people to either charter or have their private pilot drop them off and then leave. This is going to be a large group trip, so yeah it looks loike a fairly big house.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
midlifeflyer said:
Kitty a Hawk is directly associated with the Wright Brothers museum and is owned by the US Park Service. The "MAX OF 24 HRS PARKING PERMITTED. NO MORE THAN TWO OVERNIGHT STAYS PER MONTH" rule is probably to keep people from hogging limited parking spaces.

Of course, maybe calling them and saying, "but it's for ME!" will make a difference.
Click to expand...
Very limited, no night takeoffs or landings either (that was a first for me). IMG_1933.JPG
I spent several hours visiting a few years ago. Flew in from Long Island after a fuel stop in Maryland. What an incredible place to visit, really enjoyed myself!
 
So Dare County is in the more interesting place - more "in town", as much as that means in that part of the state.

However in general, North Carolina has a very well developed system of county airports. I think either location has advantages and disadvantages. Currituck Co has no overnight ramp fees and you just need to give them advance notice to have a rental car for you. Dare Co is much busier and has a rental car place on site, plus more nearby...no idea of ramp fees, but I'd be surprised if they don't charge at least 5 bucks and you could have much more than an hour drive due to traffic. Plus you'll be one little fish in a big pond. At Currituck Co, you're likely to be the only fish in the pond.

Bottom line, either will work for you.
 
Last edited:
Currituck is still about a 1 hr drive but the time spend driving on the island is about 1/3 of the trip as opposed to all of the trip. Should just call Currituck and see what the rental situation is there.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I spent a week on the OBX with my plane at Dare Co last spring. When I asked about the parking fee on my way out, they asked if I bought gas. "OK, no fee then". It was before the high season, so maybe less picky about the fee. Great airport with lots of parking.

Be careful with the winds at FFA, and fly down to Ocracoke too.
 
redtail said:
Very limited, no night takeoffs or landings either (that was a first for me). View attachment 60175
I spent several hours visiting a few years ago. Flew in from Long Island after a fuel stop in Maryland. What an incredible place to visit, really enjoyed myself!
Click to expand...

IMG_1348.jpg IMG_1352.jpg
 
Awesome shots Bill.

I wanted to take this puppy for a spin, but there were folks crawling all over it:D.
I had no sense of how massive this plane was from photos. It wasn't until I stood next to it, that I got a true sense of her size.

IMG_1868.JPG IMG_1877.JPG
 
Brad Z said:
Have you considered Hatteras Island? Our place is walking distance to Billy Mitchell Airport (which allows free parking for 2 weeeks) I also give nice off-season discounts to fellow pilots if you PM me directly.

https://www.vrbo.com/1064722
Click to expand...

That's cool! We've rented on Robin Lane for the past 30+ years. Nice neighborhood, good beach, lot's of memories. Remember when Runboat Circle was nothing but travel trailers from Rt. 12 to the beach. Rowdy crowd back then!
 
Gary said:
That's cool! We've rented on Robin Lane for the past 30+ years. Nice neighborhood, good beach, lot's of memories. Remember when Runboat Circle was nothing but travel trailers from Rt. 12 to the beach. Rowdy crowd back then!
Click to expand...
The trailers were long before our time but I’ve heard about them. My airport manager has a place on Robin Lane Andy turned us on to the area. I’ve always liked the lower outer banks, but being able to fly down is just the cherry on top.

I do wish the little golf course next door was still open though. On the plus side, I might have sneaked across to to shortcut my way from the airstrip to our house.

I’m still waiting to rent our house to another pilot. But we’re relatively few in number, and considering the logistics, even folks who fly still end up driving down for many reason.
 
Brad Z said:
...I’m still waiting to rent our house to another pilot. But we’re relatively few in number, and considering the logistics, even folks who fly still end up driving down for many reason.
Click to expand...

can you rent out just the master bedroom? :)
 
Landed at Currituck last week. It’s a great little airport. Everyone from the airport manager to the people hanging around were very friendly and very helpful.

I got a car rental from Enterprise in Elizabeth City. No hassles. Get the local phone number from the airport. Enterprise will drop the car off the day before you arrive.

Fuel is reasonable and easily accessible. There’s a gate to drive onto the field and park next to the plane for loading.

Enjoy!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
drotto said:
While flying into Kitty Hawk would be neat it appears they do not permit more than one night tie down.
Click to expand...

Has anyone been able to confirm that this is a hard and fast rule? I plan to fly there next week for my niece's graduation and we plan to be there for 4 nights.
 
Go into Dare County. Kitty Hawk is for 24 hours MAX and no more than two different overnights per month. They have services at Dare and they are nice folk.
 
Flocker said:
Has anyone been able to confirm that this is a hard and fast rule? I plan to fly there next week for my niece's graduation and we plan to be there for 4 nights.
Click to expand...
flyingron said:
Go into Dare County. Kitty Hawk is for 24 hours MAX and no more than two different overnights per month. They have services at Dare and they are nice folk.
Click to expand...
This.

And even if you could get away with it, please don't. This is a small park service airfield with limited aircraft parking, which is designed for museum visitors. Taking up a museum visitor space in order to hang out for a few days is a discourtesy to other pilots.
upload_2018-5-31_13-13-8.png
 
We actually packed like 30 Navions on that ramp for the Kitty Hawk flyout from our convention in Southport. There was one hapless 172 we buried, but we got him out when he was ready to go.
 
Flocker said:
Has anyone been able to confirm that this is a hard and fast rule? I plan to fly there next week for my niece's graduation and we plan to be there for 4 nights.
Click to expand...

The NPS rangers are pretty on the ball enforcing these regulations. You might get away with two nights, but you’ll likely get a ticket if you’re there four nights. MQI isn’t far away and is reasonably priced.
 
midlifeflyer said:
This.

And even if you could get away with it, please don't. This is a small park service airfield with limited aircraft parking, which is designed for museum visitors. Taking up a museum visitor space in order to hang out for a few days is a discourtesy to other pilots.
View attachment 63589
Click to expand...
And that's a day with no one there. I've been to FFA and had to park at the edge of the Tarmac on the north side of the parking lot because it was so full. There were about 20 planes on the ramp, and I don't think another one could fit. The restrictions are there for good reason.

I like Manteo (Dare County, MQI). If you are staying at the North end, the trip up the island will take you past the stores and supermarkets, saving you a trip later.
 
I'm not even sure there are tiedown rings (there certainly aren't ropes). We have parked in the grass at times when the ramp was tight.
 
flyingron said:
I'm not even sure there are tiedown rings (there certainly aren't ropes). We have parked in the grass at times when the ramp was tight.
Click to expand...
There are rings and ropes, just not many spaces, apparently only 11 according to the image above. I guess they were limited by the monument to make more parking space. Billy Mitchell has 40 spots and I've never seen it fill up; Ocracoke has 21 and often has people parking in grass during busy summer weekends.
 
Not sure how I missed the WWII museum at Manteo, but fwiw, there’s also an aquarium there. My son and I used to fly up there quite a bit and take the courtesy car to town for lunch, then hit the aquarium on the way back through.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top