The Lacombe Flying Club and General Lee Aviation flight school provided 125 free flights to local youths during Discovery Aviation Day.
For the second straight year, the event was held at the Lacombe Regional Airport and served as an entry point for young Central Albertans interesting in aviation, said Justine Thompson, a member of the Lacombe Flying Club.
"For a lot of kids and families, they see planes up in the air around the airport and they don't really know how to get involved in aviation," said Thompson.
"For a lot of people in aviation, they kind of grow up around it. We're trying to grow interest in aviation in the next generation and get them excited about flying. With Lacombe now having its own flight school, someone starting at 14 can start their path to getting a pilot's licence right here in Lacombe.
"It's important to bring attention to aviation for kids around this age because soon they're starting to look at careers. A lot of people don't know that you don't need to go get a university degree to become an airline pilot. It all starts with just your private pilot's licence. It's a great place to get kids involved and help them grow into different aviation careers."
A couple decades ago, Lacombe served as the home of a similar type of event to get youths interested in aviation. An event like this hadn't been held in the community until Discovery Aviation Day was introduced last fall. The event is held under the national organization COPA (Canadian Owners and Pilots Association).
At that fall event, about 100 free flights were provided to youths. This year, the event offered 125 free flights, despite having to reschedule from Saturday, June 7 to Sunday, June 8 due to windy weather.
"With the date change, we had a lot of cancellations. The thing that helped us get to 125 flights was the high interest in walk-ins," said Thompson.
"We saw some eager kids who were at our event last year and signed up right away this year. It's great to see how interested they were after their first flight."
Discovery Aviation Day was only made possible thanks to support from local sponsors and volunteers, Thompson noted.
"We really appreciate everyone who was invested in this event. On the day of the event, we had about 40 people volunteering with us. I hope people continue to support local community airports and the events they run."
The Lacombe Flying Club's next event is its Fly-In Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, July 13. Visit www.flylacombe.ca for more information.
