MIDLAND, Texas — The Fly into Fall event took place for the first time ever at Midland Airpark.
It was an educational and interactive event meant for all ages and gave the general public a more intimate look into the aviation industry. The city and community came together to make the idea of this event into reality.
"I had a wonderful committee of community members that helped to facilitate everything, to plan it, to really work through all the logistics; as well as city staff who really put in a lot of time and effort and energy to making this happen," said Midland Councilwoman Robin Poole.
The turnout for the event was huge, with attendance ranging in the hundreds. Also in attendance were former astronaut Don Thomas and Texas Congressman and former Air Force pilot August Pfluger, both of whom had Q&A sessions with attendees and talked about their time in their respective former occupations.
For those involved in aviation, whether currently or formerly, events like this mean so much more and they hope it can create that spark in the next generation that want to get into the cockpit one day.
"I think back to why I became a pilot, and it's because of talking to my grandfather or talking to people in the generation ahead of me that were pilots; and then to be apart of that now and to help inspire all the next generation," said Congressman August Pfluger.
The city hopes to make the Fly into Fall event another annual event for Midland in the future.