Martha’s Winery, Massachusetts, is a kind of locations that makes an amazing case for normal aviation. As a result of it’s an island, getting there by automotive includes a ferry journey that may be sophisticated, aggressive, and time-consuming to rearrange.

Individuals who have summered on the Winery for generations typically share tales of woe associated to the ferry. Beneath one of the best situations, the journey consumes a lot of the day.

Against this, touring to the island by airplane is remarkably fast and simple. From my dwelling airport in Sussex, New Jersey (KFWN), the flight in our Commander 114B takes an hour and 20 minutes. Even on a Friday afternoon on the top of the summer time trip season, when it could appear unattainable to get wherever utilizing floor transport, it’s a simple transit by air.

Selecting An Airport

You is perhaps stunned to search out {that a} smallish island has three airports, however one may argue the Winery’s huge and diverse aviation historical past is an excessive amount of for one area to accommodate. Most guests arrive on the trendy Class D airport in Winery Haven (KMVY), which has scheduled airline and constitution service, and a brilliant, ethereal terminal with ticket counters, baggage examine, automotive rental desk and different providers. There may be additionally a restaurant known as the Airplane View. The Navy educated pilots right here throughout World Battle II.

Runway 6/24 is 5,504 ft lengthy and best for big turboprops and lots of mild to midsize jets. Runway 15/33 is 3,327 ft lengthy and crosses close to the edge of 24. As we approached over Lengthy Island Sound, we heard different plane utilizing Runway 6, however as we acquired nearer the wind shifted to favor 15, and the tower controller supplied us the choice of the shorter runway with a direct headwind. This was deal that resulted in an extended, circling strategy that gave me extra time to descend and more room to remain away from a clump of clouds hanging over the sphere simply above sample altitude.

After touchdown we taxied to an in a single day tie-down space that saved us away from the jet blast of the primary ramp. This spot appeared removed from the terminal, however that was not a difficulty as a result of the bottom crew one that guided us in and tied down the airplane additionally drove the shuttle van and dropped us off on the essential constructing. If you would like providers, from radar service within the air to gas service on the bottom, KMVY is the proper place. That is additionally a haven for aircraft spotters, particularly in the course of the summer time season when the ramp hosts a parade of air-craft and other people.

Katama Airpark (1B2) is in Edgartown, east southeast of Winery Haven and simply exterior the Class D. That is the place a lot of the remainder of the flying crowd goes, significantly longtime native pilots and people flying mild, single-engine equipment that’s effectively suited to Katama’s three turf runways, organized in a neat triangle. You’ll be able to nearly at all times discover a passable headwind there. Maybe you simply want a nontowered area, otherwise you discover the delicacies at Katama Kitchen extra to your liking. This additionally makes one of the best place to speak with fellow pilots.

Katama dates to the Nineteen Twenties, when the airfield was carved out of pastureland, and nonetheless seems the half. Curtiss-Wright Flying Service was based mostly there early on, adopted by the Martha’s Winery Flying Membership. The Navy arrange a gunnery vary there throughout World Battle II, and over time visiting pilots used the sphere for air exhibits and demonstrations.

Commerce Wind Airport (MA44) in Oak Bluffs is a 2,200-foot grass strip owned by the Martha’s Winery Land Financial institution Fee. Pilots should request permission through electronic mail earlier than touchdown there. Every pilot can get permission for as much as 5 plane, and the allow is nice till the top of the 12 months it’s issued. I acquired permission for my Commander 114B and the flying membership’s Cessna 172, which most likely would carry out higher on the unimproved area. Commerce Wind is strictly for brief, day visits—no in a single day parking.

For many years, Carolyn Cullen, a flight teacher and member of the legendary Girls Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, owned and operated the airport. Cullen had realized to fly in the course of the Nineteen Thirties and have become a pillar of the island’s aviation group. Should you have been fortunate, maybe you flew along with her.

The Cities

Every city on the island expresses a definite character and attraction. On this journey we stayed in Oak Bluffs, a well-liked, bustling spot the place many vacationers, particularly these staying only a day or two, are inclined to spend most of their time. That is the place many of the Steamship Authority ferries from Hyannis, Woods Gap, and Nantucket arrive in the course of the busy summer time season. There are lots of eating places, motels, and shops to maintain guests from feeling remoted. It’s a celebration city.

Winery Haven, also called Tisbury, sports activities a year-round ferry terminal and is the island’s largest port of entry for passengers and cargo, though Oak Bluffs is busier in the summertime. That is the place you discover extra native residents. Points of interest embrace seashores, eating places, and a wholesome arts and music scene. As a result of Europeans settled right here early on, the city’s structure displays a variety of kinds from Greek Revival to neoclassical.

Aquinnah sits on the agricultural western aspect of the island and previously was often known as Homosexual Head. The city is small, masking lower than 6 sq. miles, and quiet. Aquinnah, the normal identify for the realm utilized by the indigenous Wampanoag individuals for 1000’s of years, grew to become the city’s official identify in 1997 and has been utilized by all since. Guests can be taught extra in regards to the Wampanoag on the Aquinnah Cultural Middle.

Chilmark lies simply east of Aquinnah and can also be off the crushed path. It contains the fishing village of Menemsha, identified for its stunning seashore and scrumptious seafood. Individuals additionally say the village affords one of the best sundown views on the island. The city is small and quiet, with a normal retailer and put up workplace—and never a lot else. It feels extra like a distant getaway than busier extra developed components of the Winery.

Centrally situated, West Tisbury connects the island’s north and south shores and marks the divide between the so-called up-island and down-island areas. It was a part of Tisbury, or Winery Haven, earlier than breaking away in 1892. This rural district is the agricultural hub of the Winery, the place the Grange Corridor nonetheless serves as a group heart for farmers’ markets and different occasions. The city hosts an agricultural truthful each August.

Edgartown is the island’s largest city based mostly on inhabitants. The primary European settlements have been right here, and the place was teeming with business exercise in the course of the peak of the whaling business. Right now it’s identified for South Seaside, also called Katama Seaside, the island’s hottest. Edgartown is only one of two “moist” cities the place laborious liquor is offered within the Winery, together with Oak Bluffs. So Edgartown additionally is thought for its nightlife.

The Lighthouses

The Winery appears to have loads of most issues—not simply airports. Take lighthouses, for instance. There are 5 on the island, every notable for its look, design, and historical past. I got here away from this journey believing that visiting all of them arguably is one of the simplest ways to get a really feel for island tradition.

Even in case you are not a lighthouse fanatic, it’s simple to identify Homosexual Head Gentle as probably the most distant outlier within the group, as its pink brick exterior contrasts with the others’ white paint. In-built 1844, it represented an enchancment over the earlier picket model. The next decade it acquired a serious enhance in know-how with the set up of a Fresnel lens with greater than 1,000 prisms. The close by cliffs give the construction’s perch a precarious look that’s not an phantasm. Certainly, the constructing was moved in 2015 to guard it from erosion.

The East Chop Lighthouse in Oak Bluffs is on the location the place early telegraph improvement passed off round 1828. A sea captain constructed the unique lighthouse privately in the course of the mid-1800s and charged charges to ships that arrived in port. The federal authorities purchased the lighthouse in 1875 and changed it with the present cast-iron constructing. It was often known as the Chocolate Lighthouse due to its reddish brown coloration till 1988, when it was painted white.

West Chop Lighthouse was the final of the island’s lights to be operated by a keeper earlier than automation took over. Right now’s brick construction was inbuilt 1838to change an earlier picket lighthouse. It has additionally been moved again from the sting of the bluffs following threats from raging seas and shifting floor.

The particularly picturesque Edgartown Lighthouse was inbuilt 1828 on a man-made island within the Edgartown harbor, and for a 12 months or so after completion, the one strategy to attain it was by boat. Authorities funds ultimately allowed for development of a footbridge.

The Cape Poge Lighthouse—typically spelled “Cape Pogue”—is probably the most distant of the island’s lights, situated on the northeast nook of Chappaquiddick Island. It additionally appears to have endured the roughest life. In-built 1801, it lasted till 1838, when it succumbed to harmful waves. Islanders rebuilt it, however over the following 50 years the ocean wore it down. One other rebuild with a change from reflector lamps to revolving prisms lasted solely till 1892. It was rebuilt and wrecked yet one more time earlier than the present picket construction was accomplished in 1922.

That is the place lighthouses and aviation got here collectively on the Winery. Within the January 16, 1987, version of the Winery Gazette, there’s a fantastic photograph of a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane helicopter flying overhead with the Cape Poge Lighthouses hanging beneath, on its strategy to a brand new basis. An accompanying article described the landmark scene:

“Dangling beneath a large Military sky crane helicopter, man wires flying like kite strings, for a quick second the historic shingled lighthouse evoked reminiscences of Dorothy’s home within the Wizard of Oz because it sailed via the air.”

Martha’s Winery (KMVY)

Location: 3 miles south of Winery Haven or 41.5 nm southeast of Windfall, Rhode Island.

Airport elevation: 66.9 ft msl

Airspace: Towered, Class D

Airport hours: Open 24 hours. Tower operates 0600-2200 Could 15 to October 31; 0700-1700 November 1 to Could 14

Runway: 6/24, 15/33

Lighted: Sure

Sample altitude: 1,000 agl (mild), 1,500 agl (giant)

This column first appeared within the July 2023/Difficulty 939 print version of FLYING.