Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Elk River Airport (NC06) is a private mountain-valley airstrip serving the Elk River Club residential community near Banner Elk, North Carolina, sitting at a lofty 3,468 feet amid the Blue Ridge high country. Access is restricted to Elk River Property Owners Association members, their guests and associate club members, making this a field a visiting sim pilot can admire from the air but not casually land at in reality. Its single asphalt runway, tight mountain surroundings and lack of instrument approaches make it a demanding and scenic short-field exercise for simulator flying.
Elk River Airport is a small private airfield built to serve the Elk River Club, a gated residential and golf community outside Banner Elk in the North Carolina High Country. It has been in use since 1969 and remains owned and operated by the Elk River Property Owners Association strictly for the benefit of its members, their approved guests and associate club members. For a flight simulator pilot the appeal lies in its dramatic setting: a single mountain-valley runway hemmed in by steep, forested terrain, offering a short-field, high-elevation challenge more usually associated with backcountry strips than a residential development airport.
The airfield lies about two nautical miles west of the centre of Banner Elk, a small town in Avery County, North Carolina, in the Appalachian high country. It sits in a narrow valley, running parallel to the Banner Elk Highway, and is surrounded on all sides by mountainous terrain that rises steeply from the runway environment. There is no control tower or approach control here; operations are conducted under the applicable uncontrolled airspace for the area, with pilots relying on see-and-avoid procedures and local knowledge of the terrain.
The field has a single physical runway, 12/30, with a hard surface and a length of 4,549 feet in each direction. There is no ILS or other instrument approach guidance, and the runway lacks runway end identifier lighting.
Traffic at Elk River Airport is coordinated on the CTAF frequency of 122.975 MHz; there is no air traffic control service and no published navaids or instrument approaches associated with the field. Given the surrounding high terrain and the absence of any letdown aid, arrivals and departures are flown visually.
There is no air traffic control at the field, and pilots are expected to self-announce and coordinate on the CTAF. Because the airport is boxed in by mountainous terrain on all sides, the operator provides a dedicated pilot manual and a video presentation covering arrival and departure procedures, which prospective pilots are strongly advised to study before attempting to fly into or out of the strip; specific circuit heights and patterns are not detailed beyond this guidance.
The runway runs parallel to the Banner Elk Highway, which forms a useful ground reference for locating and aligning with the strip. The town of Banner Elk itself, roughly two nautical miles to the east, provides a broader landmark for inbound traffic, with the airfield tucked into a valley surrounded by higher terrain on every side.
Elk River Airport opened in 1969 as a private facility built to serve what became the Elk River Club residential community. It has remained under the ownership of the Elk River Property Owners Association ever since, with its use consistently restricted to club members, their approved guests, and associate members, and with all commercial flying activity, other than approved charter flights operating on behalf of members or guests, expressly prohibited.
The airport remains a strictly private facility for the exclusive use of Elk River Property Owners Association members, their approved guests and associate members of the Elk River Club; landing by aircraft not owned or controlled by members or their approved guests is forbidden, and prior permission and authorisation through the club are required for any use of the field. Access to the airport and its four hangars is controlled by a manned security gate. The operator maintains a pilot manual and webcams covering the runway and nearby Beech Mountain, along with local weather station data, for the benefit of authorised users.