Fly-In returns Aug. 27 with airplane rides, pancakes, drive-in

The Luverne Municipal Airport will host a “fly-in or drive-in” pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 27.
In addition to inflatables for kids and Skydive Adventures demonstrations, there will be aircraft and an air ambulance on display.
Luverne City Administrator John Call said the airport hasn’t hosted a fly-in breakfast since 2019 when the event attracted a record 437 people.
“So we’re going to try to break 500 or 600 this year,” Call said at the Tuesday, Aug. 16, council meeting.
Airport Board Chairman Jim Juhl has arranged for the Young Eagles out of South Dakota to give airplane rides to children Saturday.
The Young Eagles is a program created by the U.S. Experimental Aircraft Association to give youth between the ages of 8 and 17 an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane while educating them about aviation.
The program is offered free of charge with costs covered by the volunteers.
Rides will be offered from 8 to 11 a.m., weather permitting, to children whose parents or legal guardian give signed approval.
“I know the kids really get excited about that,” Call said. “It’s going to be fun to see and it’s going to be great to get back to our fly-in this year.”
 
Building improvements
The fly-in discussion was part of Tuesday’s city budget meeting when the council discussed the airport budget increase due to expenses of repairing the arrival and departure building after the 2020 fire.
Out of the $1 million in damages, insurance funds covered roughly $800,000, and the city covered expenses related to upgraded windows, wiring and other planned improvements.
The new building with its upgraded pilot’s lounge and office area, will be open to the public during Saturday’s event.
Fixed base operator Ben Baum and his wife, Lori, repair and service airplanes at the Luverne airport in addition to keeping up with fueling planes and maintaining the property.
They said traffic through the Luverne airport has decreased due to fuel prices. They average 10 to 20 planes per week now compared with twice that number last year.
Other airport projects include the recently installed fuel depot and construction of a four-unit hangar to meet demand for rental space.
The airport has had 100-percent hangar occupancy for many years, with waiting lists and frequent active inquiries for hangar space.