If you have an interest in small planes, seeing a spectacular parachute jump or taking a hot-air balloon ride, then Sunday's 34th annual Breakfast Fly-In at Lancaster Airport is for you.
The all-day event, which is open to everyone, is scheduled to kick off with a pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. It will be held at the Liberty Sport Aviation hangar next to the Airways hangar at Lancaster Airport.
The fly-in is organized by the Lancaster chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, an international flying club with almost 200,000 members. The "experimental" in the group's name refers to the many EAA members who've built their own planes.
Jack Henderson, president of the Lancaster EAA group, is in charge of the day's activities. In a recent telephone interview, he said the fly-in is designed to be fun for the whole family.
"Last year more than 900 people bought a pancake breakfast, while 30 planes flew in from all over the mid-Atlantic," he said.
Henderson said special attractions this year include free "Young Eagles" airplane rides for youths 8 to 17. Brownstown parachutist Steve Lapp will perform a daredevil exhibition jump at 10 a.m. There also will be helicopter and tethered balloon rides.
Henderson is a flying enthusiast and part-owner of four aircraft. He also has his own home-built plane. Such planes are becoming more sophisticated, he said, incorporating the latest technology from all over the world.
He said a new member of his EAA chapter has a four-passenger experimental aircraft that was fabricated in Ecuador, assembled in Florida and boasts a computerized glass control panel that replaces all the traditional round steam gauges for such readings as fuel flow, cylinder head temperature, air and ground speed and GPS.
"The leading edge of technology is in the experimental aircraft," Henderson said.
Henderson said part of the fly-in's attraction is getting to see so many small planes up close, including the increasingly popular light sport aircraft.
There also will be a number of show planes present. Cape Air — Lancaster's new commuter airline to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport — will have one of its commercial craft on display, and the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading plans to fly over a World War II vintage plane.
Admission to the fly-in is free. The only charges for the day's activities are $6 for the pancake breakfast and fees for helicopter and balloon rides. If it rains Sunday, the event will be held Monday.
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