First Flight Airport

First Flight Airport
Photo of First Flight Airport and Wright Brothers Monument
First Flight Airport from 1000 feet
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerU.S. National Park Service
ServesKill Devil Hills, North Carolina
LocationWright Brothers National Memorial
Elevation AMSL13 ft / 4 m
Coordinates36°01′06″N 075°40′17″W / 36.01833°N 75.67139°W / 36.01833; -75.67139
Websitewww.firstflightairport.us
Map
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 3,000 914 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Aircraft operations37,500

First Flight Airport (IATA: FFA, ICAO: KFFA, FAA LID: FFA) is a public use airport located one nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) west of the central business district of Kill Devil Hills, a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States.[1] The airport is owned by the U.S. National Park Service.[1] It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation facility.[2]

The airport itself is famous for being the site of hundreds of pre-flight gliding experiments carried out by the Wright brothers. The Wright Brothers National Memorial, located atop nearby Kill Devil Hill, is a 60-foot granite pylon paying homage to the Wright Brothers and the first sustained heavier-than-air flight.[3] The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission also chose the airport as one of the stops for the National Air Tour 2003.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference FAA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF, 2.03 MB) on September 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "Wright Brothers National Memorial". U.S. National Park Service. 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  4. ^ "The National Park Service and the National Air Tour 2003 Announce Plans for Stop at Wright Brothers National Memorial". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. 2003. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2006.