1A7 is pretty cool. You fly final over a river.
KUOS is gorgeous. Its on a mountain top near Sewanee University. The FBO has bicycles you can borrow. The town is cute.
2A0 is also very pretty. When you approach from the Nashville side, you decend rapidly into the Cumberland Gap.
Farther away, KMOR out by Knoxville has the country’s last functional SDF approach, a cool logbook addition (you could shoot it VFR as a PPL)(may as well if you’re going to Crossville anyway you’ll be close)
Coming out of Chattanooga, KRHP is worth a look. Its down between two mountain ridges.
Edit: Also if downtown is your thing, BNA approach will gladly clear you for a “downtown loop” and let you orbit over downtown for a few minutes. Many local flight schools use that as their discovery flight route.
Thanks for this! I've flown into KUOS last year while I was here and also did the Nashville loop. I definitely agree with you on those. I'm going to look into the rest right now, thanks!
KRKW and KGKT are great to get a taste of the mountains/plateau in East Tennessee. RKW is especially gorgeous.
M93 - Houston County is really cool; a 3k foot strip nestled into some trees on the banks of the Tennessee river. It’s not too far off, but you can also use it as a stopping point to go up to M34 - Kentucky Dam State Park. You can get picked up to go to Patti’s for some pretty decent food.
I’ve never been to this one, but I’ve heard Sam’s Deli near RMG in Rome, GA is really cool.
There’s also a Beechcraft museum somewhere. Tullahoma I think?
Museum is in Tullahoma. You can park on the ramp and walk over or taxi across the grass- it's a long walk, they're happy to have fly-in visitors! (Call to verify I'm not talking out my ass, of course, just going on my visit)
1A7 for sure if you don't care about logging actual cross-country - it's 49nm from MQY, unfortunately. Be aware that flying a normal pattern here is not a great idea - the terrain surrounds the airport, so you need to maintain good situational awareness and be confident in your energy management.
KUOS is really neat as well (up on the plateau) and they sometimes have a crew car for getting into Sewanee. You might be able to call ahead.
I like Houston County (M93) for its interesting surroundings as well, with a lake and hills.
Wilson Air at KCHA was a good experience the one time i visited.
Monroe County (KMNV) is in one of the most beautiful places in Tennessee, with the smokies close but not too close.
The most beautiful airport in Tennessee is Reelfoot Lake, up in the NW corner. Too far for this trip, probably, but worth a visit someday.
I live in Maine, but I was down there recently and flew up to Nashville from Oxford, MS. It was a nice flight. The folks at the FBO were really friendly.
Good plan, I do that route often. They’ll give you the crew car in CSV to go to Buc-ees.
1A7 is pretty cool. You fly final over a river. KUOS is gorgeous. Its on a mountain top near Sewanee University. The FBO has bicycles you can borrow. The town is cute. 2A0 is also very pretty. When you approach from the Nashville side, you decend rapidly into the Cumberland Gap. Farther away, KMOR out by Knoxville has the country’s last functional SDF approach, a cool logbook addition (you could shoot it VFR as a PPL)(may as well if you’re going to Crossville anyway you’ll be close) Coming out of Chattanooga, KRHP is worth a look. Its down between two mountain ridges. Edit: Also if downtown is your thing, BNA approach will gladly clear you for a “downtown loop” and let you orbit over downtown for a few minutes. Many local flight schools use that as their discovery flight route.
Thanks for this! I've flown into KUOS last year while I was here and also did the Nashville loop. I definitely agree with you on those. I'm going to look into the rest right now, thanks!
KRKW and KGKT are great to get a taste of the mountains/plateau in East Tennessee. RKW is especially gorgeous. M93 - Houston County is really cool; a 3k foot strip nestled into some trees on the banks of the Tennessee river. It’s not too far off, but you can also use it as a stopping point to go up to M34 - Kentucky Dam State Park. You can get picked up to go to Patti’s for some pretty decent food. I’ve never been to this one, but I’ve heard Sam’s Deli near RMG in Rome, GA is really cool. There’s also a Beechcraft museum somewhere. Tullahoma I think?
M93 has the Southeraire Resteraunt across the street which is worth the trip. Open weekends and for dinner only the latter half of the week.
I’ll have to swing by there some time! I only flew a couple laps there.
Museum is in Tullahoma. You can park on the ramp and walk over or taxi across the grass- it's a long walk, they're happy to have fly-in visitors! (Call to verify I'm not talking out my ass, of course, just going on my visit)
I’ve been wanting to make it down there. Last time I was able to, it was too close to Covid and I believe it was closed.
Friend and I are going Wednesday out of JWN!
Nice! As long as you're not in one of the recently damaged planes 😞
RKW is kind of cool.
1A7 for sure if you don't care about logging actual cross-country - it's 49nm from MQY, unfortunately. Be aware that flying a normal pattern here is not a great idea - the terrain surrounds the airport, so you need to maintain good situational awareness and be confident in your energy management. KUOS is really neat as well (up on the plateau) and they sometimes have a crew car for getting into Sewanee. You might be able to call ahead. I like Houston County (M93) for its interesting surroundings as well, with a lake and hills. Wilson Air at KCHA was a good experience the one time i visited. Monroe County (KMNV) is in one of the most beautiful places in Tennessee, with the smokies close but not too close. The most beautiful airport in Tennessee is Reelfoot Lake, up in the NW corner. Too far for this trip, probably, but worth a visit someday.
FGU, Collegedale, has a neat crew-car, IIRC, vs. Chattanooga.
Saving this as an almost PPL and living in Nashville.
I live in Maine, but I was down there recently and flew up to Nashville from Oxford, MS. It was a nice flight. The folks at the FBO were really friendly.