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Local event planned

By Steven Stiefel
The Times-Journal

Published October 10, 2003

It has been 100 years since Wilbur and Orville Wright completed the first successful sustained power flights in a heavier-than-air machine, paving the way for today’s supersonic engineering marvels.

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter 890 and Valley Aviation plan an event Saturday to commemorate this milestone, according to Wilma Playford, an EAA member.

The event, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Isbell Field in Fort Payne, will include static displays of various aircraft. Veterans of the Armed Forces will be given free airplane rides by EAA members, and military airplanes or helicopters might participate if they are available and weather permits.

The event is free for everyone. Playford said Pop’s Barbeque will sell food, and EAA hopes to have live entertainment.

“We’ve sent word out all over North Alabama for pilots to fly in,” she said. “This is a great opportunity to come see our facility and realize how we’ve come, from kites and balloons to spacecraft.”

The public can also get a good look at Isbell Field, which has grown by leaps and bounds.

“Most people don’t realize what an asset we have in our city airport,” Playford said. “They think it is just a place for people with a lot of money and nothing to do but fly airplanes. The ones who realize how great it is are the ones who use it all the time.”

The airport, operated by Valley Aviation, expanded the runway a couple of years ago and can now accommodate planes as large as the DC-3. Corporate jets use the facility, allowing local industry to remain competitive with those in larger cities.

“We have 47 planes based at the airport, including two corporate jets,” Playford said. “Every hangar is full, and planes will be out for people to see and appreciate.”

On Thursday, Valley Aviation began using new precision approach lights, which cast a bright red light which pilots can see 10 miles away.

The actual anniversary date of the Wright Brother’s flight is Dec. 17, and Playford said the EAA organization has coordinated numerous events during the year.

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