Sunny calm weather optimal for fly in
Apr. 27—If the weather forecast is accurate Saturday should be a perfect day for the Abilene Aviation Association's 28th annual Fly-In and Pancake Feed from 7 a.m. to noon at the Abilene Municipal Airport.
"If it's a fairly calm day, sunny and clear, we should get some aircraft in," said Abilene Aviation Association (AAA) President Sidney Hammond. "It's supposed to be in the 80s and not windy or breezy."
In years' past, there have been as many as 80 aircraft fly in to the Abilene airport to attend, coming from places like Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. However, weather conditions the day of the event are a determining factor.
"In 2019, we had very little visibility, it was rainy and we only had about a dozen aircraft. They came in late in the morning when the fog and clouds raised up a little bit and cleared up," Hammond said.
The 2019 event was the last time the fly-in was held. It was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
"We will take some precautions because of COVID-19 and will try to follow protocol," Hammond said.
Adults and children are invited to come to the airport, eat pancakes and sausage and then walk the flight line to view the airplanes and talk with the owners and pilots.
Pancake feed tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children ages 3 to 10 and includes all-you-can eat pancakes, one sausage, juice and coffee. Tickets may be purchased from any aviation association member or at the door Saturday.
There is no charge to walk the flight line and view the aircraft.
Fly-in pilots and passengers eat free.
Money raised from the pancake feed is used to fund aviation scholarships for higher education and assist the Abilene High School German Club for student exchange programs.
Any student who graduates from an accredited Dickinson County high school and wants to pursue a career in an aviation field is eligible to apply for the scholarships.
Abilene has an
airport?
Not only does the fly-in raise money for scholarships, it also gives area residents an opportunity to visit the airport.
"A lot of people — if they're not involved with aviation directly — really don't think about it very much. I've had people say they didn't know we had an airport here," Hammond said. "Having a viable airport in a community does have advantages."
People who attend the fly-in usually have a wide variety of aircraft to view, ranging from regular production models to experimental home-built, antique and historic military aircraft.
Hammond speaks enthusiastically about the types of models that have attended in the past. He's a pilot himself who started flying in 1975.
Up until a year ago he was the owner of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. Unfortunately, it was destroyed on May 4, 2020, when winds clocked around 90 mph damaged the airport, blew an RV off the road, downed power lines and trees and caused other damage in the Abilene area.
Several hangars were damaged, but the 10-bay hangar where Hammond kept his plane was destroyed. That hangar was owned by the City of Abilene and space was rented out to pilots, he said.
"Eight aircraft were in that building. I believe all of them were totaled," he said. "I had my plane for 29 years. It was like losing a member of the family. You get kind of attached to certain items like that, but at least nobody got hurt in the storm."
While the debris was cleaned up within a few weeks of the storm, some pilots who call the Abilene airport home are still in need of hangar space. Hammond said the AAA is working with the city and Federal Aviation Administration to get the funding to rebuild some hangars.
Contact Kathy Hageman at editor@abilene-rc.com
