SC man flies 100 miles to Hilton Head just for this dessert. Here’s why
If you had a private plane, where would you go?
Maui for a beach day?
Rome for a candlelit dinner?
Ed McClellan’s choice is Hilton Head Island.
When he and his friend Justin Patterson make trips to the island, it’s not for business or a long family vacation — it’s for ice cream.
McClellan has been flying from Summerville, just northwest of Charleston, down to Hilton Head about once a month for the past 2 1/2 years. Every time he comes to Hilton Head, he stops at The Purple Cow dessert bar in Port Royal Plaza for a scoop.
“We have some phenomenal restaurants in Charleston, but nobody’s desserts are as good as hers,” McClellan said of Purple Cow owner Lisa Bernstein’s creations.
McClellan is part owner of a Cirrus SR22 plane, which he and Patterson fly about 20 minutes to get to Hilton Head Island.
“I can literally fly from Summerville to get ice cream on Hilton Head faster than I can get to downtown Charleston to get to Coldstone (Creamery),” he said.
General aviation — that’s civilian flying outside of passenger air service — is popular for private pilots.
In 2019, “more than 80 percent of the 609,000 pilots certificated in the U.S. fly general aviation aircraft,” according to the non-profit Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Island-hopping also helps McClellan keep his general aviation license.
Per Federal Aviation Administration standards, private pilots must keep their licenses current by logging three landings every 90 days. If they don’t, pilots could lose the ability to carry passengers.
So McClellan said the flight to the island helps keep him and Patterson in the air.
“There’s a saying in aviation that people will fly an hour or less away and have the $100 hamburger,” McClellan said, referring to the cost of readying and flying a plane. “We have the $100 ice cream, and it takes us 20 minutes by air.”
Bernstein, the shop’s owner, said she always looks forward to his visit. She wrote on Facebook that she was lucky to have such a loyal customer.
Unlike many repeat customers, McClellan doesn’t have a signature dessert. He said he’s ordered just about everything on the menu.
“It used to be we would stop in while we were on the island,” he said. “Now we fly in just to visit Purple Cow.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 2:30 PM.
