Tethered rides are available for those who want to soar – but also want to know where they’re landing! For balloon rides near Raleigh, climb aboard with Carolina High Hot Air Balloon Company, launching from Benson. During this three-day festival, colorful balloons rise with the sun and float toward the clouds. Balloon through blue skiesĪre the skies above the Tarheel State really Carolina blue? You can decide for yourself on a hot air balloon ride during the annual Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville, forty miles north of Charlotte. So what’s keeping you afloat? Four enormous fans churning winds at 541 horsepower each. Your buddies can cheer you on – or mock you roundly – from the big-windowed observation deck. Repeat flyers can practice challenging bodyflight maneuvers, cranking up the thrills with flips, turns and altitude changes. During introductory Earn Your Wings flights, flyers as young as three can suit up and enjoy a float – just lean forward from the door and whoosh! You’re airborne. Who says you have to go outside to get airborne? At Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving near Fayetteville, flyers soar inside a five-story wind tunnel – the largest vertical wind tunnel in America. The company’s dive center is in Southport, about thirty miles south of Wilmington. On clear days, look for the Oak Island Lighthouse on your way down. Beginners can sign up for a tandem dive, an adventure that begins at 11,000 or 13,000ft (depending on the plane) and includes a 120mph freefall. This unique adventure – for experienced divers only – is a bucket-list jump for thrill-seekers from across the country. The white sands of Oak Island double as a drop zone on beach dives with Sky Dive Coastal Carolinas. Outfitters also dot the Crystal Coast to the south. A smaller Hatteras company offering lessons and rentals is Radikal Kiteboarding. Kitty Hawk Kites runs Waves Village, a kiteboarding condo-resort with beginner classes as well as instruction for experienced kitesurfers looking to hone their skills. The high season, May through August, is the best time to visit when the winds are particularly strong. Beginners appreciate the sound’s shallow waters, which stretch far from shore. The better of these two spots depends on prevailing winds. Here you’ll see boarders skimming across the ocean and nearby Pamlico Sound. Kiteboarding off the coastĭue to its strong winds, one of the best kiteboarding spots on the East Coast is Hatteras Island, where boarders and their colorful kites fly high – sometimes up to 20 feet. Scan for turtles, dolphins and whales along the coast. Flights depart Dare County Airport in Manteo then swoop over famous shipwrecks and the Wright Brothers National Memorial. And adrenaline junkies, sorry to dash your dreams, but you won’t be wing walking on this flight - although for an extra $79 you can hold tight for a couple of loops. Bring your flying scarf – the passenger seat and cockpit are open-air. OBX Air Tour Adventures lets you relive those heady days on a flight over the coast in a 1990 Waco YMF-5, which is Waco’s modern incarnation of its classic 1930s barnstormer. The Golden Age of Flight stretched across the 1920s and 1930s, a time between world wars when adventurous pilots thrilled the masses with daredevil stunts, long-distance solo flights and cross-country races. It’s the only trip like it in the world.Ī zip liner soaring above the treetops on Nantahala Outdoor Center's Mountaintop Zipline Tour © Image courtesy of Nantahala Outdoor Center Barnstorm in a biplane Lying prone across the lower wing, you’ll soar above the sands in a reproduction Wright Brothers glider. Strap in, grab the glider and run – the wind takes care of the rest! For an historic ride, try the company’s 1902 Wright Glider Experience. Not sure? Hike up the dune and scope out the action. Long-running Kitty Hawk Kites offers a 3-hour beginner lesson that includes five flights. With its consistent coastal winds and a sandy-soft base for landings, this gentle giant – comprised of 30 million tons of sand – is a natural place to learn to hang glide. Rising up to 100ft from a narrow perch between the Atlantic Ocean and Roanoke Sound, Jockey's Ridge in Nags Head is the tallest active sand dune on the East Coast. Today, the First in Flight State celebrates its sky-chasing heritage with a slew of airborne adventures. The plane lurched up, bucked into the wind and then stayed airborne.for 12 world-changing seconds. As his brother Wilbur steadied the wing, Orville piloted forward. On a windy December morning in 1903, Orville Wright released the wire that tethered his wood-and-fabric flying machine to the sand flats of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The world’s first modern flight wasn’t pretty.
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