Outer Banks

[Jamie]

Day 1

My wife and I had planned a vacation a while back and my vacation kept being pushed back at work. Finally we got some time off. Our original plan was to go up to NYC for a couple of days and see the sights, but honestly although I probably could have gotten into there VFR, the forecast was for rainy weather the entire time we would be there and we didn't want to have to vacation with an umbrella.

So we had dropped off our son with his grandparents and came back to the house. We sat and I scrubbed the NYC trip due to the weather and we were basically sitting there at 2100. I asked my wife, "Ok, so where else would you want to go?" We went through a few suggestions then she mentioned going out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I had never been there before so I thought it would be a great time.

We called and made a hotel reservation, I did some flight planning and we launched the next morning.

Approaching Roanoke Island...home of the "Lost Colony".



Flying out over the coast at 1000agl you can easily spot the Write Brothers monument. Be careful here as there are many, many banner towers in the area. They tend to fly at 500ft so it's not an issue most of the time. The banner towers seem to announce on the FFA CTAF (122.9) their present location.


Obligatory shot of N622JP in front of the monument at First Flight Airport.


After leaving FFA we went over to MQI (Dare County Airport) where we would be basing. We had also arranged a rental care there ($50/day, unlimited mileage and no BS fees). Very convenient.

We then decided to drive down and see Cape Hatteras and it's famous lighthouse.

Here's Jaime at the Body's Island Light House. For some reason or another they actually don't allow you to climb this one.


Jaime at the Cape Hatteras Light House.


The impressive thing to me about this light house is how they MOVED it to protect it from the encroaching sea. The light house is 210 feet tall and was built with 1.25 million bricks! The nice Park Ranger that I spoke with mentioned how they found 0 damage from move...not even a single crack developed in the brick morter. Definitely an impressive engineering feat.

We were really not sure what we were going to do the next day. That night I got a voicemail on my cell from RV-8A builder Steve Ashby. He had a question regarding his canopy. I called him back and when I told him where I was he mentioned that we should check out Ocracoke Island.

So that was our itinerary for the next day...we would load up the plane and fly down to Ocracoke!

[Jamie]

Day 2

We slept in (a necessity during a vacation) and then headed back over to the airport on Roanoke Island to launch for Orcracoke. There are only two ways to get to Ocracoke...boat or airplane...there are no bridges going there!

We launched for what was one of the most beautiful flights I have had to date in my RV. It was gorgeous.

Approaching the coastline again.


Our hotel is the light colored one sitting at a 45 degree to the beach in the center of this photo (Comfort Inn). My personal opinion is that the hotel was overpriced. The room was decently clean, but I do think it was overpriced. But hey, it's hard to complain when you make the reservation a full 14 hours before you show up!


Flying down the barrier islands.


Coming around Cape Hatteras. Can you spot the lighthouse? You can also see the path that was cleared to move the lighthouse.


On the right is the western-most part of Hatteras Island. On the left is Ocracoke Island. You can see the ferry that moves cars from Hatteras to Ocracoke.


Short final at Ocracoke Island Airport.


The light house on Ocracoke. Yes, we did stuff other than see the lighthouses...it's just that this is what we managed to take pictures of.


Here is the Ocracoke school. It's probably the smallest public school in the US that I've ever seen!


We rented Bikes on Ocracoke and rode around. It's a bit of a walk from the airport to the town, but it's not bad at all. If you have folding bikes for your airplane I would HIGHLY recommend this place. It would be perfect. There are bicycles everywhere and having one to ride from the airport into town would be perfect.

Some stats:

2.7 hours there, 2.8 hours back! There has been some talk here on VAF about Ocracoke and the restricted airspace to the west of it. There are MOAs above the entire length of the Outer Banks but they are up at 8000ft+ so it's not really anything you have to worry about down low. If coming from the west you come into FFA then make your way down the islands it's a nice flight and no airspace concerns.

More photos are available here.

[TSwezey]

Thanks for the write-up and pictures. My in-laws live just south of Wilmington and I plan on dropping the kids off there and landing at the same spots you did.

[hempy.4]

GREAT PICTURES! Thanks for sharing!

[G Swartley]

My wife and I go on vacation to the outter banks every year with her family. I cannot wait till the RV is done to do the trip in the plane. gald to here you had a good time there.