Just over four-dozen people took advantage of clear skies Saturday to fly around 2,000 feet above the Sault Ste. Marie area to check out scenery, including the fall colors, as part of the Aerial Fall Color event.
The Soo Pilots Associated hosted the event at Sanderson Field Airport.
For $25 per person, they would enjoy the 20-minute flight over the Soo Locks, Sugar Island and the Sault Ste. Marie area.
Tom Brown, Sanderson Field manager, said the aerial tours have been going on since 2008.
"It allows regular people to here and see what the airport is all about and the check out the colors over Sault Ste. Marie," Brown said.
For some, this is their first time flying.
"It's really close to the 'seat of your pants' flying compared to flying on a big jet airplane," Brown chuckled.
Heather London had never flown on any plane before until Sunday.
"It was awesome. It was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. It was cool, but not as climactic as I thought it would be. But it was pretty neat," London said.
The event was supposed to have three planes and pilots but one plane had to be taken out of service earlier in the week. But the event was still successful with the two remaining planes and pilots.
"We had around 50 people which is about what we expected. We did have a waiting list because of being down one plane but we gave them a time to come back and it worked out pretty good," Brown explained.
Nolan Horner, 8, came with his father and younger sister for the aerial color tour. This was Nolan's second time flying.
"It was pretty cool because we got to fly over our house. I did not know we had that big of yard. Wearing the headsets was pretty cool, too," Nolan said.
The small airport is much more than a place for little planes to take off and land.
"Sanderson Field is important to the community not only as an airport but also having events like these. We also had 'Movie in a Hangar' Friday which was very successful," Brown concluded.
