| Chesapeake Bay - Tangier Island (KTGI) PIREP [message #9427] |
Fri, 05 July 2013 17:19 |
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Dave Klain
Messages: 1162
Registered: April 2011
Location: Fairfax, VA
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For those looking for a neat place to fly in the Chesapeake Bay area, I highly recommend Tangier Island (KTGI). Flew there for the first time today, and it was well worth it. For those unfamiliar with it, the island is in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and has a population of only 600 people (75 kids in the school). All of them are watermen who crab, oyster, clam, etc. It is apparently the last place on earth where the population all speak Elizabethan English. No cars on the island, only accessible via boat or plane.
One thing I had a lot of fun chasing down was the runway length…Bottom line is the AFD and Airnav will tell you it is 2427 feet, but the NOTAM that came out in May lets you know it is now 2646’ long. They apparently shortened some of the displaced threshold on runway 20. In fact if landing 20 you have longer than that because there is an overrun from when the runway was 3000 feet long, but the overrun is pretty bumpy and not decent at all. The runway itself is in great shape but does still have some undulations…nothing as severe as the big bump halfway down that old PIREPS said would launch you into the air. Never touched the brakes, but used short-field approach technique and with reverse thrust was stopped several hundred feet before the end of the runway. Airplanes do have to back taxi to get to the parking area, so you need to allow space in the pattern for that…we saw one guy turning base as another guy touched down and sure enough he had to go around because the guy ahead of him was just making his 180 as the #2 guy turned to final.
Ramp was pretty busy with about 7 planes there (including a T-34B, a Maule and a gorgeous LSA out of Manassas). They don’t have tiedown ropes (not that we need them in a Mits) and there are only a few beat up chocks hanging off the fence…I just used my own.
Pax approach was very helpful and the Restricted Areas were all cold so we went right through them.
There is a $10 landing fee (courtesy box on the fence). You get your Virginia Aviation Passport stamp at “Lorraine’s” which is on the corner at the first “intersection” you come to when walking into the town (you walk along a bridge and then down a lane and come to the intersection, Lorraine’s is across and to the left).
We ate at Hilda Crockett’s Chesapeake House which is served family style and all you can eat. It was about 22 bucks per person but a lot of good food including clams, crab cakes, corn pudding and about 10 different side dishes.
Did not go to the beach (which looked gorgeous from the air) or rent a kayak but will definitely make another day trip to do that in the future. Highly recommend this day trip it for anyone in the area.
What are other good places you’d recommend people visit in your neck of the woods? Put the General Location, Airport and identifier in the subject so that it is easy for people to search them out!
Dave
MU-2 AOPA administrator
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