The McCall Family Fly-In, which has drawn hundreds of pilots and their families to McCall each summer, has fallen victim to budget cuts.
This year's fly-in has been cancelled due to budget cuts within the Idaho Department of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics, said Frank Lester, the division's safety and education coordinator.
The fly-in, an education and safety instruction opportunity for pilots, had been in McCall the past six years.
It originated as a rotating event at airports in Montana and Idaho with the Federal Aviation Agency. Due to FAA budget cuts, the state took over the event and planted it at the McCall Municipal Airport the past six years.
The state decided.to hold the event in McCall to keep state employee travel costs down. McCall's central location was ideal for that purpose, Lester said.
Flat revenues cited Statewide revenues for the division were flat and other costs were rising, which caused the budget cuts, Lester said.
The division receives revenue from an airplane fuel tax, airplane registrations and pilot registrations.
"The big problem was financing; we don't have enough staff and manpower to put in the time to plan it," Lester said. "It really takes a whole year." Lester is the only employee at the agency involved in outreach for the state agency.
"We finally had to say this is not where we should be," Lester said. "We are not in the event planning business."
McCall Airport Manager John Anderson is looking for another event to hold at the airport.
"It won't be a family fly-in," Anderson said. "We're looking at doing something to involve the public; we haven't figured out what yet."
"I'm sure we'll figure out something to do that would be an interesting event to involve the citizens here in town and hopefully get some folks to fly in," he said.
Anderson said the airport might work with the Idaho Aviation Association to put together an event for the airport. Anderson said he does not know what type of event the airport will hold or when it would hold the event.
Because the fly-in, which began about 20 years ago, was originally a rotating event, many of the pilots lost interest in it when it remained in McCall for several years.
"It ran its course. Everybody had been to McCall, and everybody had seen it," former McCall Airport Manager Rick Harvey said. "The last two years, it was an open house."
From that standpoint, the event was still a success, Harvey said. "Last year, there wasn't much participation from pilots," said Anderson, adding that smoke from several wildfires placed flight restrictions that did not allow pilots to fly into the backcountry, which diminished the event.
"It needed some refreshing anyway," he said.
"We had a tremendous support from the community," Lester said. "You have a great airport there. It provides a great amount of economic support for the city. I was sorry to see it go."
