Desert Aire Airport Fly-in breakfast raises $3,900 for maintenance

DESERT AIRE - The weather was perfect, the pilots came and about 550 people dined at the annual Desert Aire Airport Fly-in Breakfast on Saturday of Father's Day weekend.

The breakfast raised about $3,900 for light maintenance work at the airport. Volunteers set up the breakfast in a hangar before the 7:30 a.m breakfast start and tore down the event in the afternoon.

"First of all, we have to thank Gordie Harang for enthusiastically allowing us to use his spacious hangar," said airport publicist Suzi Gruber. "He provides all the cooking grills, and he hauls in a refrigerator every year for us to use."

Harang also provides all the necessary cleaning to completely satisfy Health Department guidelines.

The event went briskly due to a change from fried eggs in 2013 to scrambled eggs in 2014. About one-third more people dined this year than last.

"We were cooking one egg at a time before," Suzi said. "The lines were 50 feet long. It was hot, and people went home."

Airport Manager Karl Gruber suggested the scrambled eggs last year. He has flown commercially all over the world and stayed at many upscale hotels.

"They all serve scrambled eggs for their buffet," Karl said.

Tiddaly Didally's owner Ken Broda offered "a great recipe" he acquired from his wife, who is a caterer. Using real butter, whole milk and a good amount of pepper was the secret.

"We served the scrambled eggs in 2014, and they were a huge success," Suzi said. "No lines, and very happy parents and kids. And again this year no long lines, and more people came."

Approximately 40 planes flew in, and their pilots and families joined the crowd for breakfast. They came from Yakima, Pendleton, Spokane, Seattle, Tri-Cities, Moses Lake and all around Washington and Oregon.

The Fly-in counted on many new volunteers this year, too numerous to mention all of their names.

They shuttled 25 tables and more than 80 chairs back and forth between he Sagebrush Senior Center and the hangar.

Ken Broda was in charge of the scrambled eggs, Jerry Main was in charge of picking up pilots, Steve Miller was in charge of the Grilling station, Carolyn Fuller was in charge of the Servers and Karl Gruber was the Radio Boss, guiding the planes to the parking areas.

Suzi and Melinda Skogerson made sure everyone was comfortable.

Helping build up the this year's was a raffle that featured a 45-minute plane ride in Karl Gruber's plane and two 8-hole tee times from Pro Don Tracy at the Desert Aire Golf Course.

"These donations are critical to the running of the airport," Suzi said. "There are about 15 volunteers who tirelessly maintain this airport free of charge. The irrigation system, the Med Star Pad, the rose garden, taxiways, the grass runway for sport planes, the lighting, the windsocks and the aprons must be kept up to date.

Melinda Skogerson was in charge of the decorating and did a bang-up job with a red, white and blue theme and beautiful flower centerpieces with the American Flag in each. Mike Wolff built stanchions in the front for a smooth entry way for the buffet line. Lisa Paganelli donated fun airplane balloons.

"Of course, I can't forget the brand new FAA-approved 60-foot wide landing and takeoff runway, which makes this airport much safer to land on," Suzi said. "Hats off to Volunteers like Dick Skogerson and Cliff Naser and all of the Pilots heavily involved financially in making this new runway happen."