Close but no cigar.
On Sunday, May 24 pilots and aviation enthusiasts from all over the region and beyond literally descended on the Barrhead Johnson Industrial airport to take part in the airport’s biggest event of the year.
The annual Fly-in/Drive-in Pancake breakfast is hosted by the Barrhead Flying Club.
Flying Club president Wade Evans said the club was very pleased at this year’s turnout.
“We always have great support not only from Barrhead residents, but from general aviation community,” he said, adding that they were very close to breaking the fly-in’s all-time record for aircraft attending. “Our first year we had our largest number of airplanes at 57.”
At the time the Leader talked to Evans at about the halfway mark of the event, 47 aircraft had landed at the airport for breakfast.
Despite just missing the record for the number of aircraft at 55, the event probably hit an all time attendance record.
At the end of the event flying club volunteers had served 360 breakfasts, however, organizers noted that there was really no way to know how many people really took in the event.
“We always have a lot of spectators come to take a look a the planes and talk to the pilots. It certainly seems busier than it has in past years. We have already cooked 15 hams,” Evans said, just before he left for a grocery supply run.
Mike Nason, a pilot based out of the Villeneuve Airport, about 10 km north of Edmonton, and the only general aviation airport in the area, flew down with his son and his mother in an Lake Buccaneer amphibious airplane. The airplane is a three-seat airplane that can take off and land on a body of water or on land.
“I always look forward to the Barrhead Fly-in. I think I have only missed one year,” he said, adding that he also received a lot of comments from both pilots and spectators about his airplane. “I have had it about five years now and it gets a lot of looks where ever I go.”
Jonas Boll is another pilot who is used to answering a lot of questions about his airplane where ever he goes. Boll is a Whitecourt pilot and the owner of a Pipistrel Virus aircraft. The Virus is a light weight, two-seat airplane, which is capable of flying at speeds close to 300 kms/hour.
“After I received my license in about 2008, I was looking for an airplane that was fast, affordable and could operate out of short grass,” he said, adding that he liked the airplane so much he decided to become Pipistrel’s Western Canada distributer.
