CHESAPEAKE–– Saturday marked the fall edition of this year’s Community Plane Ride Day events at the Lawrence County Airpark, hosted by the Tri-State Pilots Association.

“We have community a Community Plane Ride Day twice a year for the public to support the airport,” Joey Johnson, president of the TSPA, said. “The cost is $30 per adult and $5 for children 7 and under, and those funds that we collect are used to maintain the airport.”

Johnson said that the plane ride days are the only source of income for the airport, and the money goes to keeping up the airport grounds, tractor maintenance, mowing and lighting as well as matching funds for Federal Aviation Administration grant money.

FAA grants for the airport are used for bigger projects, such as runway lighting or paving.

“The public is very, very receptive to the Community Plane Ride Days,” Johnson said. “We get a lot of adults and children who have never been in a plane before, and when we go up, whoever is sitting up front will actually get to fly the airplane.”

Johnson said he’s glad that the public enjoys the opportunity that the fly day events give them.

“A lot of people don’t ever have an opportunity to fly an airplane,” he said. “And just about everybody comes back with a smile on their face.”