General aviation field
Mountain Empire Airport, Rural Retreat.
- Longest paved runway
- 5,252 ft
- Field elevation
- 2,558 ft
- Runway-capable types
- 14 of 24
- Coordinates
- 36.89, -81.35
Mountain Empire Airport's 5,252 ft of runway is longer than most of the 51 jet-capable fields in Virginia, and its 2,558 ft elevation adds noticeably to the runway a jet needs in summer. 14 of the 24 types we broker clear it; the runway rules out 10. The nearest city we publish corridors for is Washington, D.C., 255 miles away.
Access
Getting here
Straight-line distances from the cities we publish, with a typical aircraft's block time including taxi, climb and descent.
- 255 mi1 h 11 mShort legpriced at the daily minimum
- 285 mi1 h 17 mShort legpriced at the daily minimum
- 300 mi1 h 19 mShort legpriced at the daily minimum
- 478 mi1 h 50 mfrom $3,397one way, all‑in indicative
- 502 mi1 h 54 mfrom $3,569one way, all‑in indicative
- 658 mi2 h 21 mfrom $4,683one way, all‑in indicative
- 676 mi2 h 24 mfrom $4,805one way, all‑in indicative
- 709 mi2 h 30 mfrom $5,043one way, all‑in indicative
From-prices are one way and all-in — operator price, our fee and federal excise tax — for the smallest cabin suited to the distance, indicative rather than quoted. Short legs sit at the smallest cabin's daily minimum, so we show distance and time for those and price them on request.
Runway
What can operate here
Compared against the published balanced field length of every type we broker, with roughly 3% added per 1,000 ft of elevation for density altitude.
This is runway length only. Individual airports also restrict by wingspan, noise curfew, slot availability and special approach certification, and performance moves with temperature, weight and the day. Clearing the runway here means an aircraft is worth asking about — the operator confirms it, and signs for it.
Turboprop
Seats, range and runway needed, by type
- Pilatus PC-126–8 seats · 2,123 mi range · needs ~2,853 ft here
- Beechcraft King Air 3508–9 seats · 2,078 mi range · needs ~3,553 ft here
Light jet
Seats, range and runway needed, by type
- Cessna Citation CJ47–8 seats · 2,491 mi range · needs ~3,672 ft here
- Cessna Citation CJ3+6–7 seats · 2,348 mi range · needs ~3,424 ft here
- Embraer Phenom 3006–8 seats · 2,313 mi range · needs ~3,983 ft here
- Cessna Citation M25–6 seats · 1,784 mi range · needs ~3,456 ft here
Midsize jet
Seats, range and runway needed, by type
- Cessna Citation Latitude8–9 seats · 3,107 mi range · needs ~3,855 ft here
- Cessna Citation XLS+8–9 seats · 2,417 mi range · needs ~3,833 ft here
Super-midsize
- Embraer Praetor 600
- Gulfstream G280
- Cessna Citation Longitude
- Bombardier Challenger 350
- Bombardier Challenger 300
Seats, range and runway needed, by type
- Embraer Praetor 6008–12 seats · 4,624 mi range · needs ~5,079 ft here
- Gulfstream G2808–10 seats · 4,143 mi range · needs ~5,115 ft here
- Cessna Citation Longitude9–12 seats · 4,028 mi range · needs ~5,179 ft here
- Bombardier Challenger 3508–9 seats · 3,682 mi range · needs ~5,206 ft here
- Bombardier Challenger 3008–9 seats · 3,527 mi range · needs ~5,179 ft here
Heavy jet
Seats, range and runway needed, by type
- Dassault Falcon 2000LXS8–10 seats · 4,603 mi range · needs ~5,034 ft here
Ruled out by runway length: Hawker 800XP, Cessna Citation X+, Dassault Falcon 900LX, Learjet 60XR, Gulfstream G450, Dassault Falcon 7X and 4 more — the shortest of these needs about 5,418 ft here.
Alternates
Nearby alternates
The closest other jet-capable fields, in case weather, slots or runway length send the trip somewhere else.