Chris Welsh likens the Henderson-Oxford Airport to a rest area along the interstate – when a traveler needs to stop, that blue road sign announcing that a rest area is ahead is a welcome sight.
Welsh and his wife, Amanda, have been the fixed-base operators at the airport for the past several years, and he said things are – pardon the pun – looking “up.” Traffic at the airport with its 5,500-foot-long runway is up, he said. And he points to a few reasons for why that is so.
Because the couple can offer maintenance on the aircraft – which other local airstrips do not provide – Welsh said pilots will fly in if they need to get something like a landing gear tire fixed.
But he also said they have seen an increase in small planes coming in since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think a lot of businesses have started (using private aircraft) since COVID – we’re seeing more 4- and 6-seaters coming in for business,” he told John C. Rose today during Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny! “And Mako is flying all the time – at least three or four times a week, and I know they’re coming out here at night,” Welsh added, even though he and his wife typically are not there for their arrival.
The pilots communicate on the radio frequency, follow standard traffic patterns, land and then just park the aircraft and follow the sidewalk to the building and parking lot beyond.
Since beginning their jobs there, the Welshes have overseen a couple of project completions, including a runway lighting upgrade and an extra row of hangars, where 10 additional planes now call home.
Some larger aircraft also have flown in – like a King Air 12-passenger turboprop – that previously had used the airstrip in Clarksville, VA. But that runway was shortened by 900 feet recently, which makes landing a larger aircraft a bit more difficult.
“The landing is usually more of the problem,” Welsh said, “because you have to slow down, right?”
Revlon flies a Gulfstream aircraft that is similar in size to a commuter plane, Welsh said. It uses the airport regularly, along with private travelers.
“You could probably land a 737 here,” he said. The problem, however, comes after the landing. “It’s probably too heavy for the pavement,” and then there’s the issue of what kind of vehicle would be available on the ground to tow it.
That rest-area concept Welsh alluded to plays into the airport’s support role for nearby Raleigh-Durham International, which could divert aircraft to the Granville County airport if the need arises.
Raleigh has a couple of flight schools, and Welsh said more student pilots are using the local runway in their training.
“In the first 10 or 15 hours of learning, you don’t need any distractions,” Welsh said. He is a seasoned pilot himself and he also has a commercial license to operate a drone.
“If you’re practicing repetitive landings, you can do three or four here in an hour,” he noted. A student pilot would get half that amount at RDU – and they’d have the added stress of watching for incoming aircraft using the same runway.
Welsh said the airport is home to a couple of flying club airplanes – a Cessna and a Piper – that are based here as part of the RDU flying club. “You can join the club if you’re not a pilot,” Welsh said. “It’s basically the cheapest way to rent an airplane.” Individuals can use the planes to accumulate training hours toward their license, rent it to fly over the lake or take it to the beach for a couple of days. The planes can stay gone overnight, he said, but most of the time they’re tucked back in the hangars after each outing.
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