Every third Saturday of the month, rain or shine, Jim Huntimer, Gary Kuhns and Gayle Wilts meet at Marv Skie Airport in Tea for good food and conversation.
Huntimer, Kuhns and Wilts meet for the pancake breakfast, put on by the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 289.
The members hold the pancake feeds to raise funds for the EAA chapter. The breakfast, which includes pancakes, eggs, sausage, milk, juice and coffee, runs from 7 – 11 a.m. Volunteers cook and diners make a free will donation. The breakfast is for anyone – whether involved in aircraft or not.
“Anyone who wants sausage, eggs or juice,” Kuhns said.
“Even Republicans or Democrats,” Huntimer said.
Politics were a hot topic this month.
Huntimer, is from Dell Rapids; Kuhns and Wilts both reside in Sioux Falls. The three have been involved with aircraft since the 1960s – either flying planes or building them. Although Kuhns said the food is good, the conversation brings him and many of his acquaintances back.
Blake Hoffman, of Sioux Falls, enjoys reminiscing with his pilot buddies at the breakfast.
Hoffman of Sioux Falls has been flying out of the Tea airport for 10 years.
“Pilots have this brotherhood. They always have something to talk about,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said discussions include construction techniques and new avionic devices, for example.
“If people are looking into flying, it’s a good forum to see if aviation is something they want to do,” he said.
Breakfast is just a bonus, he said.
Steve Thompson of Tea cooked the breakfast early on Saturday and the food was served to between 80-100 people. Thompson and other volunteers arrived at 6:30 a.m. Each Saturday, the chapter cooks about two 10-pound bags of pancake mix.
Thompson is no stranger to flying as well. He began operating planes in the 1950s with Red Baron. Now, he flies with VanGuard, a formation team that runs solely on ethonal. Kuhns and many other pilots involved with Marv Skie also flies with VanGuard. With VanGuard, Thompson and the rest of the pilots fly formations throughout the U.S. Thompson has been to Ohio and all throughout the Midwest.
Wilts said aviation has grown over the years. He said after the 9/11 attacks, many businesses choose to purchase private planes to transport employees. Also, it’s just a fun hobby.
For Thompson, the decision to fly airplanes came easy.
“It’s all I ever wanted to do,” he said. “When I was two or three years old I looked up and saw an airplane and thought, I gotta do that.”
Thompson flies just about every type of aircraft, too. RV planes, are typically home-built kits – which he said a lot of people in the area build.
“They’re fast, efficient and powerful,” he said.
He’s also flown Beechcrafts and Pipers.
The next breakfast will take place on Oct. 18.