By Laurelle Walsh
Eat breakfast in an airplane hangar. Interview the builder of an experimental airplane. Admire your reflection in the chrome of an antique car. Get a look inside a Northwest MedStar helicopter and watch smokejumpers parachute from a jump plane.
Saturday (July 11) is the 20th annual Twisp Fly-In and pancake breakfast at the Twisp Municipal Airport, which also celebrates 70 years of operation since it opened on July 4, 1945.
Breakfast will be served from 7-11 a.m., and features pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, eggs, ham, coffee and juice. Adults eat for $8; kids ages 4 to 8 are $4; and children under 4 are free. Families with kids under 18 eat for $22.
“There will be some interesting airplanes,” said airport manager Bob Howson. “You never know who’s going to fly in.”
Enter the airport on Aviation Lane off Highway 20 and follow the signs to parking.
New this year, the Twisp Airport Pilots Association has established a $10,000 Aviation Scholarship Fund to be awarded to a local student interested in an aviation career.
“We’d like to generate enthusiasm for aviation in the younger generation,” Howson said. The scholarship will be paid to the school of the student’s choice and will go toward tuition and other fees, he said.
Any Methow Valley students interested in general aviation or pursuing a career as a pilot can ask questions and sign up for the scholarship at the “Young People In Aviation” booth. “There will be lots of people to talk to,” said Howson, including retired Air Force pilots, and commercial pilots like himself — a 31-year airline pilot.
There will also be a free class at the Twisp Airport on July 15 and 17 to discuss flying-related topics with an FAA certified instructor. Contact Morgan Smith at aeronaca33@gmail.com to sign up.
For more information, call Howson at (435) 640-1725.
