Montauk Airport (KMTP)

Located near the eastern tip of Long Island, Montauk Airport claims the tile of New York’s Easternmost Airport, but for a New York pilot who wants to spend a day at the beach, it’s also a great way to avoid spending the day in traffic, and even during the height of the summer your chances of finding parking on the ramp are far better than finding a spot for your car at other local beaches.

The airport itself is not large or busy by any standard: A single runway and a small ramp for parking, airport operations is all contained in a one-room building and some outdoor tables for passengers to wait during preflight.

Things to Do

While you can spend the day sitting outside the operations building watching planes come and go, the real beauty of Montauk Airport is not on the field, but at the nearby beaches, restaurants, and parks.

Directly across from the airport are two restaurants – Rick’s Crabby Cowboy, and Fishbar. Inlet Seafood is a short walk up the road to the north, and all three are great choices for a light lunch after landing.

With your stomach filled, a short walk up the road (or down the taxiway) will bring you to the Long Island/Block Island Sound beaches for an afternoon of swimming and sun-tanning. For those inclined to take a long walk down the beach (or a taxi ride from the airport), the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum and Camp Hero State Park are both nearby.

Getting There

Montauk Airport is relatively easy to get to – VFR pilots have no serious airspace considerations coming from the north or east.

Transitions through the New York Class B airspace for flights from the west are relatively easy to obtain, but if the controllers are unable to accommodate you overflight is a reasonable option as you will have plenty of time to descend.

For IFR flights, GPS and VOR approaches are charted, but since you’re probably planning to spend the day at the beach you’re probably not going to be flying in on a day where you would need to shoot the approaches.

Note that Montauk Airport does not have fuel -you should plan on tankering sufficient fuel to get home, or making fuel stops immediately before landing / after departing the field. Some fuel options are shown on the inset sectional, and there are several other options within reasonable flying distance. 

Airport Procedures and Noise Abatement

Montauk Airport’s noise abatement procedures are pretty simple – they encourage pilots to stay over the water to the north and east. The airport specifies Right Traffic for runway 24, and an early crosswind turn when departing runway 24 (preferably before crossing Lake Montauk to the west, but operational safety obviously takes priority).

The airport is also in a wetlands region so limiting ground run-up time is likely to be appreciated by local wildlife.

Other Notes

Crosswinds and gusts can make landing at MTP a challenge, particularly for mid-afternoon arrivals, but on most days average piloting skills will be adequate to the task. It is prudent to check weather and surface wind forecasts for Groton (KGON) to the north.

Birds, Deer, and other wildlife are frequently on & around the airport, particularly in the early morning or evening hours. While the field is attended during daylight hours in the summer there is effectively no visibility of the runway from the operations building, so if there’s any question about the presence of animals a low pass over the runway is advisable prior to landing.

Be aware of the displaced thresholds (particularly Runway 24) which reduce the available landing distance.