r For the first time ever an air show is coming to the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport. It will be part of a multifaceted event called Aeroplanes, Trains, and Automobiles scheduled for the afternoon on Friday, September 15 and all day Saturday, September 16. This year’s mega event is an outgrowth of a biennial airport open house celebration of transportation started in 2010. Each time Aeroplanes, Trains, and Automobiles has been held it has been bigger and better than the last event. That brings us to 2017 which has an incredible list of displays, demonstrations, and races unequaled in any local event ever held.
Aeroplanes, Trains, and Automobiles is named because it shows off airplanes and our local airport. People always seem to be fascinated with flying machines and our local airport has a lot of interesting airplanes to show off. Trains are included in the title because there will be free “train rides” for the kids around the hangars at the airport. Automobiles were added to the airport open house to add to crowd attraction for the day and a half event with displays and races.
Friday, September 15, at 4:30 p.m., exotic cars will take to the airport runway for a ¾ mile “drive as fast as you can and then you have a ¾ mile to get stopped” that should get the attention of any car enthusiast. This event will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by a powered parachute fly by. A Dutch Oven Dinner will be available 6-7 and a Booth Brothers live concert will be on the ramp not far away. The evening will conclude with an outdoor movie, Iron Man, starting at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 16, starting at 8:00 a.m., the car show opens and a static display of airplanes and helicopters open to the public. Sky divers will open the event followed by a radio control model airplane demonstration. Private vehicle “Street Racing” on the airport runway is scheduled between 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Aircraft fly-bys are also scheduled throughout the morning. What an exciting morning that leads up to the grand finale Saturday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. is the aerobatic air show, and what a sight it will be right here at the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport. Two of the best aerobatic pilots in the United States will be performing. Barry Hancock, who is a Certified Flight Instructor and owns a flight school in Heber, will fly his World War 2 North American T-6 and possibly his Pitts S2C or Super Decathlon computation aerobatic airplanes. Also flying aerobatics to thrill the crowd will be Danny Sorensen, a 67-year-old pilot who has been flying aerobatics since his earning his private pilot certificate at age 17. Danny will be flying a one of a kind airplane that he built himself. It has 1930’s styling with 21st Century performance. These guys will amaze you with what they can do with an airplane because most pilots only fly straight and level.
Tickets for Aeroplanes, Trains, and Automobiles are reasonably priced to encourage family attendance. Daily admission is $5.00, a two-day pass is $8.00 and you can bring the entire family for one day for $20.00 and both days $30.00. Trapnell Orthodontics is donating 20,000 tickets to elementary school students. Put September 15 and 16 on your calendar for one of the outstanding events of the year in Utah County.
