LITH Airport Breakfast Turns Into Impromptu Fly-In

Parking marshalls lost count at around the 70 mark Sunday as a squadrons of small aircraft descended on  Lake in the Hills Airport for the local Experimental Aircraft Association's experimental (first, anyway) Pancake Breakfast there.

The event wasn't planned as a fly-in, said Elton Eisle, President of the Barrington-based fliers' group.  All it was supposed to be was a chance for local residents to get to know the airport.  "If you don't own a plane then there's not much reason to come to the airport to see what's here," he said.  The event was a hit from that standpoint, too, with families out the hangar doors and into the parking lot in a half-hour holding pattern  for a stack of flapjacks and a chance to peer at EAA planes ranging from true homebuilts to antique warbirds.

The Village of Lake in the Hills is casting about for ways to increase airport usage as general aviation struggles to pull out of a nosedive.  Nationwide, non-commercial flights hit a 20-year low last year, according to FAA statistics.  Statewide, general aviation flights in 2011 were less than half the number in 2000.  Only two weeks ago the Village Board was forced to drop monthly hangar rentals after some pilots griped they thought they were being gouged and might take their planes elsewhere. 

LITH Airport's lacked a signature event since the Lake in the Hills Airshow went on "hiatus" five years ago in the face of dwindling airspace, not to mention dwindling Village funds to support it.  An annual fly-in might be a low-cost replacement if EAA 790 can stand the organizational strain.  "This is phenomenal," laughed member Jeff Kempfer before buzzing off in a "follow me" cart to guide another plane to the parking area.