Pilot Carl Bailey is flying high with the success of his highly regarded seafood restaurant.
By Carter Seaton
HQ 118 | SUMMER 2022
One of Huntington’s most unique restaurants isn’t located in downtown Huntington or Central City or near the mall. Instead, it’s located right next to a small airport runway. Welcome to the Fly In Café, located at 6090 Kyle Lane on Route 2 beside the Ohio River.
The charming restaurant was never in owner Carl Bailey’s original plans for his life. As a high schooler, he worked at Guyan Golf & Country Club and dreamed of becoming a commercial pilot. Life intervened, and he went into the construction business instead. But his love of aviation was reborn in 2006 when he assumed management of the Robert Newlon Airport, the state’s only grass runway airport. Two years later he founded West Virginia Skydivers, and the surge of visitors who came to dive and spend the weekend camping there made him realize they had few places to eat.
“People kept telling me that we really needed a restaurant here,” Bailey said. “Well, I’m a general contractor, so I just decided to build one.”
In 2014, Bailey began to build his restaurant from the ground up — foundation to roof, beam to beam. He created the long bar that fronts the main dining room and looks out over the airfield. When the restaurant opened in 2016, Bailey (a licensed private pilot for 38 years) flew to Baltimore to bring back the fresh seafood that’s become the restaurant’s signature cuisine. He’d lived in Baltimore for a time and grown to love seafood, so choosing to make the café a seafood restaurant was natural.
“Matt Ellis and I were the original cooks, but now I don’t have time to cook,” Bailey explained. “Our current chef, Justin Gilkerson, has been with us for two years. He’s great.”
Although Bailey no longer fetches his own seafood, it’s still always fresh — never frozen. The burgers are fresh as well. Because so many people fly in to eat there, in the aviation world the café has become known as the home of the $500 hamburger.
“Last week a guy flew in from Indiana just to eat here,” Bailey said. “And I had a guy here not too long ago from Florida, and he said ‘Boy, that’s pretty bad when I have to come from Florida to West Virginia to get the best fried oysters I’ve ever had.’”
The décor of the Fly In Café matches the name. Miniature airplanes hang from the ceiling, which has been painted to mimic a sky full of airplanes. Bailey’s extensive collection of old signage — some featuring beers from the past, others flying-themed — was used to decorate the walls in the restaurant. He also fashioned the lampshades from the metal nosecones of old airplanes. A large wooden propeller hangs over the bar.
Over the years, the restaurant has evolved and grown. It started with a fish fry in the airplane hanger. Now, the extensive menu includes cooked-to-order seafood such as Chilean sea bass, haddock, fried oysters and two specials each weekend. For meat eaters, there are baby back ribs, a 12-ounce rib-eye steak and a variety of pastas.
The building has evolved as well and now includes two dining rooms and an outside patio. Dinner is served from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and lunch and dinner from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. But with 38 varieties of beer and 57 good bourbons, there’s more to stick around for than just the exquisite food, so the bar stays open by demand.
Beyond the fantastic food, other activities help make the Fly In Café a real treat. There’s a pool table, a dart board and a shuffleboard table. Every Thursday, line dancing fills the large addition. On alternate weekends there’s karaoke or live music. Some weekends as many as three live bands alternate on the outside patio. Over the years the Fly In Café has become known for its bluegrass music bent.
In fact, the annual Fly In Festival has become such a big event that thousands flock to the airport to watch the skydivers and listen to the best in bluegrass music.
“This year’s festival is August 26-28 and benefits the Barboursville Bloodhounds, the K-9 unit of the Barboursville Police Force,” Bailey noted.
One of his partners in the festival, Tim Corbett, is the long-time bassist of the well-known Bing Brothers Band. Along with Robbie Keyser, Bailey and Corbett have been producing the weekend festival for several years.
After six years, the restaurant remains a labor of love for Bailey.
“It’s just something I like to give back to the people of this community,” Bailey said. “I’ve been so fortunate and blessed beyond my wildest dreams.”
Fly In Café
6090 Kyle Lane
Huntington, WV 25702
Thursday: 5 pm – 9 pm
Friday: 5 pm – 9 pm
Saturday: 12 pm – 9 pm
Sunday: 12 pm – 9 pm
Phone: 304-733-1240
