NORTH ANDOVER — The skies over Lawrence Municipal Airport were perfect for flying Saturday as the National Aviation Day celebration came home Saturday.
About 1,000 people took the opportunity to check out planes big and small, event organizer Rich Little said.
“We were happy with the turnout,” said Little, the founder of Flight4CF, which sponsored the event.
The eight or nine planes on hand kept the crowd busy along with food trucks, classic vehicles and radio-controlled flyers grabbing attention along with the full-sized planes.
Some of the planes expected Saturday were scrubbed by bad weather elsewhere, he said. A Massachusetts Department of Transportation helicopter based in Plymouth, for instance, was “fogged in” and couldn’t make it to North Andover.
The crowd was treated to a visit by the Massachusetts State Police helicopter. Four experimental planes were a hit as well, he said.
Based at the Lawrence airport, Angel Flight NE, whose volunteer pilots, ground crew and commercial airlines partners have flown patients to specialty medical facilities across the U.S. and internationally at no cost for almost 30 years, was also on hand.
Flight4CF began in 2004 after the birth of Little’s daughter Piper, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
A year later, Little incorporated Flight4CF as a nonprofit organization and took to the skies.
Plans call for an even bigger event next year at Lawrence Municipal Airport, he said, pointing out Flight4CF will be sponsoring the two-day Beverly Airshow on Sept. 14 and 15 at the Beverly Airport that’s expected to attract tens of thousands of aviation fans.
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