Fly-In offers community a look inside airport

In an effort to familiarize the community with the Mineral County Airport, the board organized a Fly-In event with festivities throughout the day Saturday.

The 11 planes and 18 classic cars on display at the airport– the planes occasionally taking off and going on low altitude flights to awe the crowd and the classic cars revving their engines – made for a day filled with excitement.

“It’s gone really well,” Peggy Temple, event organizer, said. “This is for the community to know what we are about and to know that the airport is for them and not just the pilots.”

Temple added that the inaugural fly-in event was not only a means for the airport to reach out to the community but a way for pilots to show off their machines as well.

“Pilots love to do fly-ins,” Temple said.

According to Temple the addition of a classic car show was a natural fit for the event, since both pilots and classic car owners love to put their vehicles on display for the public.

On top of the private aircraft and classic cars, two Life Flight aircraft from Missoula made an appearance – one, a King Air F-90, was the largest aircraft at the event. The King Air F-90 will be utilizing the airport in Superior in special circumstances where longer flights are needed to get patients medical attention.

“Typically our helicopter has always serviced Superior,” Life Flight Pilot Randall Muri said. “Being 35-miles from Missoula it makes no sense for us to come out. But if we have a patient with something they can’t take care of in Missoula that needs to be lifted to Spokane or Seattle that’s where it makes sense.

After showing attendees around the Life Flight aircraft, both the F-90 and the helicopter took off to get back to serving the medical needs of the community.

“It’s great that they came out,” Temple said.

With the success of this year’s Fly-In, Temple added that she hopes the event will continue to grow in the coming years.