News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Crossville Memorial Airport celebrates its 90th anniversary with a fly-in this Saturday.
Crossville Memorial Airport Committee Chairman Ben Welch said the celebration will contain a fly-in of various planes with some of the planes including military planes from the World War II era. Welch said the celebration has an extra meaning for him.
“For me, it’s really special because I took my first airplane ride at this airport in 1946,” Welch said. “I was a kid and I was born and raised in Bon Air and so that was my start in the aviation business.”
Welch said the celebration will have helicopter rides for people to experience. Welch said the airport has changed over the years since all it used to be was a metal shack and a grassy strip.
“Today it’s an all-weather airport with precision landing approaches,” Welch said. “It has a fifty-five hundred feet long runway that is able to support up to major business jets.”
Welch said the airport has been a critical piece to Crossville as it continues to have a positive economic impact on the city.
“In 2019 the Tennessee Department of Transportation came and did a study of the economic impact the Crossville airport has on Crossville and the surrounding area,” Welch said. “They determined that the economic impact the airport had was about $6 million a year. The airport brings in industry, It provides transportation. It supports people that are coming and going.”
Welch said the airport is keeping up with the times. Welch said the airport is preparing to expand as more jets will be traveling to the airport once the Flatrock Motorsports track opens up.
“We are gearing up right now to try to handle and support the influx of aircraft that will be coming for those races,” Welch said. “Our airport is on pace with modern times and it is one hundred percent operational.”
Welch said the celebration on Saturday will have pilots from surrounding states flying in to celebrate. Welch said the event will have lunch and refreshments and is free to attend.
The celebration runs from 9am – 3pm Saturday at the Crossville Memorial Airport.
