Wake County, North Carolina

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This airport is located midway between Raleigh and Durham and has an Observation Park, built in 1997, that is located within good viewing distance of the west runway, 5L/23R.  This park is free and has a covered two-story tower with Air Traffic Control frequencies on a speaker, picnic tables, kids play area and is safe and easily accessible.

The main reason I'm only giving RDU a rating of 2 jets is because there isn't much traffic to watch.  Though this runway is longer (10,000ft) most aircraft use the other runway which is not visible from this location.  Most traffic here is smaller aircraft such as 737, MD80, and Regional Jets but you may end up seeing a Delta 757 land on 5L/23R.  The other bad point is, trees are blocking your view of the far (south) end of the runway.

Overall, its a well-planned and nice looking Observation Park but not a very active place.  Not much has changed here either since 9/11.

Click here to see photos from the Observation Deck

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