By WILL NILLES
Reporter at Ward Media
CASHMERE – Cashmere-Dryden Airport (CDA) pilots invite the community to their runway for a fun day filled with airplanes, food and local connections. Hoping to engage the community and further raise awareness of their important role as a local resource, CDA is hosting its 3rd annual Cashmere-Dryden Airport Day.
The goal of the Airport Day event is to raise public awareness of the important and often overlooked benefits of rural airports. In this way, CDA pilots hope to introduce their neighbors to the wider world of aviation.
CDA board member and local pilot York Baur helps organize Airport Day and believes the event benefits the Cashmere community in many ways.
“It really serves two purposes,” Baur explained. “First, to just let people experience the joy of flying, to let everyone understand a little bit more and experience the magic of flying. The second purpose, and this is not just for Cashmere-Dryden but for all rural airports, is to shine a light on the critical role that airports like Cashmere-Dryden play in the rural community.”
Impressively, CDA’s paved airstrip provides a variety of critical resources to communities at the state level, from assisting with regional firefighting efforts to ensuring community members receive necessary medical treatment.
Baur himself is familiar with the important help that CDA provides for local concerns.
“Things like search and rescue, firefighting, a lot of medical care,” Baur said, describing CDA’s life-saving potential. “We have rescue flights that fly back and forth, and there’s a group called Angel Flight that flies people to non-emergency care that they may need.”
In addition, the quiet traffic at the rural airport allows local authorities to conduct important training exercises in a safe environment.
Baur explains: “(CDA) sent the Chelan County Sheriff’s helicopter to us a few months ago to practice on our property because such exercises are not normally conducted at busy airports.”
Another dedicated local pilot and CDA board member, Bill Mcglynn, elaborated on the importance of the airport in providing emergency services.
“This airport will be a line of defense,” said Mcglynn, emphasizing the vital resources CDA provides. “If there’s ever a huge fire in the Wenatchee Valley, this airport will be the place where helicopters can fly in and deliver hot fuel so they don’t have to shut down the helicopter to refuel it.”
In addition to raising awareness of the airport’s important role in the region, CDA also hopes to bring a smile to the faces of its visitors of all ages and develop a new appreciation for aviation.
This includes giving locals the opportunity to view around forty different aircraft and learn more about each one from their passionate owners. Children also have the opportunity to take a look inside various real aircraft while sitting in their cockpits.
As local pilot Mcglynn reports from his own experience, a single positive interaction is enough to ignite the spark of passion forever.
“You never know if these little experiences that may be insignificant to the pilot or most people will inspire a young person to become an astronaut. You know, that happened to me. I was always one of those kids who looked up when a plane flew overhead, probably since I was five years old. And when I was 13, a guy, out of the goodness of his heart, took me and let me fly the plane. That stuck with me so much that for the rest of my life, all I could think about was flying in a plane.”
But it’s not just children who are fascinated by the wonders of flight. Mcglynn is also delighted to see the smiling faces of the adults who are learning about the world of aviation in the comfort of the local community.
“I think the adults bring their kids because the kids are so excited,” McGlynn explained. “But I think the parents are just as excited, honestly. You can see the huge smiles on their faces, too.”
With the CDA’s third Airport Day taking place in 2024, board member Baur is confident about the event’s overall growth.
“The number of visitors has increased,” Baur said optimistically. “Last year we had over 300 people and we hope there will be even more this year.”
Given the popularity of the event, CDA is introducing an RC flight demonstration with giant remote-controlled aircraft, allowing visitors to truly enjoy the flying spectacle.
“In particular, we’re going to have some 1:3 scale RC airplanes this year,” Baur commented. “These are the largest remote-controlled airplanes. So they’re real airplanes. They’re just flown remotely. And it’s a great way for people, especially kids, to understand a little bit more and get really close to something that’s actually flying on the day.”
To connect the community to the important and exciting aviation opportunities offered by the CDA, Board Member McGlynn leaves a message to Cashmere-Dryden residents reminding everyone of their stake in this vital asset.
“This airport belongs to everyone,” McGlynn said. “And that’s exactly what it is: a resource for everyone.”
The Cashmere-Dryden Airport Day event begins at 10 a.m. on September 7, giving community members the opportunity to connect with their local airport while still having time to visit the Chelan County Fair at the Cashmere Expo Center.
The pilots at Cashmere-Dryden Airport stand ready and excited to greet their neighbors and inspire the community with their boundless passion for aviation.
Will Nilles: (509) 731-3211 or [email protected]
