News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Residents around the Upper Cumberland have a chance to fly out or cruise into the Livingston Municipal Airport Saturday.
Airport Committee Chairman Jason Duke said attendees can start rolling in their classic cars and motorcycles at 9:00 AM to the fly-in/cruise-in. Duke said people should get to the airport early if they want to take off in a helicopter or plane over Dale Hollow Lake.
“I would say that 75 percent of the people I’m taking up, it’s their first time to ever fly,” Duke said. “So they’re very excited. We take a lot of pictures of them, answer a lot of questions. I do it because the thrill of people seeing the ground from above for the first time ever just gives me a rush.”
Duke said that entry is free, but the rides do vary in price from $20 to $40. He said this community event is a time where people can learn something new about all the different fields of avaition.
“It’s not just the cruise in of cars and motorcycles and airplane rides and bands and food, which sounds good,” Duke said. “But we also usually have some other groups set up and explain how air evacuation services work. It’s open to all the air evac companies.”
Duke said to not surprised if you see the air evacuation teams have to take off in the middle of the event to answer an emergency call. Duke said all the fanfare surrounding aviation is a great chance to spark an interest in a future pilot.
“That’s the entire reason why we try and get MTSU up, they usually bring one of their aircraft that they use for their training program,” Duke said. “They usually bring someone from the program who can speak educated on what they offer the pilot community, commercial pilot school, or if you’re going to work in aircraft maintenance or airport maintenance.”
Duke said the event is completely free, including food, lasting until 3:00 PM but there is rain expected around 1:00 PM. Duke said for people to be patient with parking, he said their will be people and signage to direct people to grass parking.
