Thomasville Fly-In takes flight with hundreds of guests
Published 7:47 am Monday, October 16, 2023
- THIS IS YOUR PILOT SPEAKING: Jennifer Cheves, a pilot from Butler, Georgia flew into the Thomasville Fly-In on Saturday.
THOMASVILLE – The 56th annual Thomasville Fly-In at the Thomasville Regional Airport on Saturday was again a soaring success. Even with a decrease in the number of airplanes in attendance due to inclement weather earlier in the week, the event attracted hundreds of adults, children and airplane enthusiasts.
“It started with local pilots that just enjoy flying. Pilots love to come out, hang out and just show their planes. That’s how it originally started,” said Fortson Rumble, president of the Thomasville Aviation Club, which oversees the event. “The reason we put it on though is for the kids. We really like having the kids out looking at the planes.”
The kids like coming to the event to look at the various airplanes on display. They also enjoy the annual candy drop, where one of the planes does a fly-by and drops tons of candy for the kids to run out and collect.
The fly-in attracts pilots and planes from across the Southeast. Jennifer Cheves, from Butler, Georgia, flew in her 1956 G35. She has been flying for more than two years and enjoys visiting the Rose City.
“I like the community events a lot. Every single year, the Thomasville (event) is something we look forward to,” Cheves said. “I like coming out here and seeing all of the people, seeing all of the planes, smiling, shaking hands.”
Rumble added, “Some years, believe it or not, we have people come from California. The weather this year, unfortunately, was poor. A lot of folks didn’t come that normally would. Normally we would have between 150 and 400 airplanes on the field. But this year with the weather being the way it was, we had a good show up. We had a lot of kids with the candy drop. I bet there was at least 300 kids down there.”
The Thomasville Aviation Club also presented various awards like the Ugly Duckling Plane and Empty Pockets Award to those in attendance. The Empty Pockets Award was presented for the newest plane, which was a 2023 Vans RV14A by Bill Gardner. The Empty Tank Award was presented to the pilot who traveled the longest distance. Hunter Fooks traveled 600 nautical miles in his Mooney. The Oldest Plane Award was presented to Lee Ballard, who brought a 1946 Aeronica Champ. The Oldest Pilot Award was presented to 71-year-old Bernd Foerster.
