Over the second week in June, my family and I headed down to the outerbanks of North Carolina. My parents have a house in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, and I look forward to our annual trip to enjoy swimming in the ocean and sailing in the Pamlico Sound.
One day, we drove all the way to Hatteras Village on the south end of Hatteras Island and took the ferry over to Ocracoke, Island. Ocracoke is small thirteen mile long island that has a little fishing / arts community at the southern end. Many fishing charters leave from here as well as the ferries to Swan Quarter and Cedar Island.
We spent the day shopping, but one of the stops for me had to be the National Park Service airstrip (w95) just north of the village. They have recently redone the "terminal" building, and it
is very nice. No night landings and no fuel, so aviators must plan ahead. According to the Ocracoke Airport website: "Aircraft may not park more than 24 hours or or more than a total of 48 hours during any 30 day period unless authorized by the Ocracoke District Ranger" Of course today, my arrival was by car; but sometime soon, it will be by air!
On the way back up Hatteras to Rodanthe, I figured I ought to stop by KHSE since it was on the way and so close. This is another of the National Park Airstrips that have no night landings and no fuel. Again, aviators must plan ahead. Same rules for leaving your airplane as in Ocracoke. Of course, I am looking forward to returning via airplane.
I guess this National Park Airstrip adventure would not be complete without a visit to KFFA. So I took the kids up to the Wright Brothers National Memorial to tour the museum and the grounds. This was not my first visit to this hallowed ground, but it had been a number of years. They have done a good job of sprucing up the place, which I guess was done for the 100 year celebration in 2003. The day we visited the wind was out of the north east at a good 15 kt clip. Standing on top of the hill with the wind full in my face helped me understand why Orville and Wilbur chose this place. Our family has always felt a special connection to the 1903 event, because my grandmother's uncle was John T. Daniels - the USLSS man who took the iconic picture. I didn't get a good picture of KFFA, but the same rules apply as did to w95 & KHSE. I am sure that once I get my PPL, I will make a trip to OBX by air and land at all three of these unique NPS strips. The one place I didn't visit was KMQI on Roanoke Island. KMQI is very much full service when compared to the NPS strips. (Gas, lights, ILS, etc). The terminal also has a very nice one room museum about its service as a sea plane base in WWII. Worth the visit as well.
Can't wait to fly!
