
DATE: Sunday, May 25, 1997                  TAG: 9705220241

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: FUN IN THE SUN 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:  115 lines

AIR TOURS GIVE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE OF THE OUTER BANKS

Want to do what Orville and Wilbur Wright didn't?

You can see the entire Outer Banks from the air.

Spectacular as their first famed flight over Kill Devil Hill was, they never did get much higher than your grandmother's clothesline.

Therein lies the immense satisfaction of boarding a small plane at the very site where flight began.

With the Wright Brothers memorial postcard-perfect in the background, First Flight Airstrip can't be beat as a jumping off point for an Outer Banks air tour.

``That was too short,'' grumped Jessica Stiles as she disembarked from a Cessna Skyhawk one recent sun-washed afternoon. Though smiling broadly, the 10-year-old Ohio resident characterized the flight as ``scary,'' especially when her sister was ``driving.''

``She just kept going down,'' Jessica explained.

Mandy Emerick, 14, her sister, didn't really fly the plane. But she did get to take the controls for a few moments while aloft over the Roanoke Sound, Jockey's Ridge and the Atlantic. ``Everything looked like little doll houses and micro-machines,'' Mandy said.

Kitty Hawk Aero Tours has flown more than 350,000 passengers in 21 years from the Wright monument airstrip. Never an incident, never a problem, says owner Jay Mankedick. On their busiest day in 1990, flights totaled 167 - that's 30,000 passenger miles, Mankedick boasts.

Beside the obvious history-charged thrill one gets from climbing into a tiny aircraft under the shadow of the Wrights' mystique, exploring the Outer Banks from the air is an exhilarating eye-opener.

``Most tourists are shocked at how flat it is, how narrow it is,'' pilot Tim Adams said of the typical passengers' reaction to the bird's eye view he affords them. Most are convinced a hurricane-propelled wave would wash the barrier islands over in one fell swoop. In parts of Duck the ocean and sound are nearly pinched together.

Once in the sky, the barrier islands look as if they were forcibly torn from the coastline. The ocean side stretches into the horizon without a break. The soundside is jagged and mishapen, spewing bits of marshland and spit islands into various waterways.

We decided to go north to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. I had the backseat to myself, which provided views out both sides and the back. The cabin of the 4-seat blue-and-yellow Skyhawk is like a classic sports-car: lots of dials, not lots of room.

Flying in a small plane is basic and straight forward. Get in, put on your seat belt. The pilot turns the key, and within about two minutes, you're in the air.

Chatting as we peered over the Atlantic coastline we were tracing, Adams said the Skyhawk is a good touring plane because its high wings afford excellent visibility. Flying conditions were ideal - crystal clear sky and a light breeze. Adams banked over the ocean as we neared Caffey's Inlet to look for any signs of sealife. No luck.

Back inland a bit. The ocean gleamed blue on the left. On the right, the Currituck Sound was brown and still. Empty duck blinds were scattered randomly near green-brown bits of land on the soundside. Ponds looked like muddy puddles. Canals, oddly, were either green or black strips slicing the flat landscape. Adams explained that the color is influenced by sediment and brackish water.

As we continued north toward Corolla, swimming pools started appearing. Houses were larger and more spread out. We swung around and looked closer at the new Currituck Club, and a handful of beachgoers waved vigorously from the beach. Then the green-blue roofed Whalehead Club came into view, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse looming impressively behind it. We stared down at the brick beacon, more stately and slender than it appears from the ground.

Adams then banked in a circle and headed south. Open spaces quickly were consumed by houses. Then, out of nowhere, the tree cover was so thick that we could not see the ground. We were over Kitty Hawk Woods.

And then, once again, we glided over scores of restaurants and motels. We approached the Wright Brothers monument, circled once, and landed without a bump. A good day to fly, Adams agreed.

``Most people expect to get in a small plane and expect it to be kind of bumpy. When it's not, they're kind of shocked,'' he said. ``Now today's a really nice day. But you get used to really strong winds. That's why the Wright brothers chose the Outer Banks. There's strong sustained winds and when you fly it all the time, you really appreciate a calm day.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON

The Wright Brothers Memorial as seen on takeoff from First Flight

Airstrip.

Tim Adams, a pilot with Kitty Hawk Aero Tours, brings a tour plane

around for a landing after a flight over the northern Outer Banks.

Graphic

TAKE FLIGHT

KITTY HAWK AERO TOURS

Where: First Flight Airstrip, Colington Rd., Kill Devil Hills

What: The Local Tour, a half-hour, 50-mile roundtrip that

includes Jockey's Ridge, the Roanoke Sound, Oregon Inlet and Bodie

Island Lighthouse.

Cost: $19 per person, parties of 3, 5, or 6. $22 per person,