It took Matt Glover longer to load up his dog River and take off from the Red Deer Regional Airport than it did to fly to the Innisfail Airport Sunday morning.
He likes any excuse to head up into the air in his Cessna 172XP, and the Annual Fly-In Pancake Breakfast was as good a reason as any.
"Everything about flying is awesome except the gas bill," he said. "I wanted to support Innisfail's fly-in breakfast."
With the sun beating down, 30 people landed in aircraft for the event and 275 people showed up for grub and to watch skydivers deploy parachutes.
This beat the socks off the last two years where rainy weather and poor turnout dampened spirits, according to organizers.
Valerie Deschamps, president of the Central Alberta Gliding Club said the breakfast is a way to let local residents know about what goes on at the airport.
"We can get the word out about the sport of soaring," she said. "A lot of people don't know we exist. One of the ways of getting the word out is to invite the community in."
On display was a Bergefalke 3 glider, used to explain how 250-foot ropes are used to tow an engineless aircraft into the air so pilots can ride the updrafts.
Dan Jones came from Lacombe and landed at the pancake breakfast in a 1944 Boeing Stearman PT13 biplane.
"We usually come every year," he said of his Lacombe flying buddies. "We usually have a fairly good posse."
Jim Christensen, also from Lacombe, came in a 1989 Nanchang CJ6A -- a Chinese trainer with Cambodian markings.
"They still use it there to this day," he said. "It's a very forgiving airplane. It flies itself."
