close

Brodak’s Fly-In gets publicity in Argentina

2 min read
1 / 2

Retired New York City Firefighter Lt. Neal Beekman preps his plane before a practice round during the 2009 Brodak’s Fly-in in Carmichaels.

2 / 2

Phil Spillman of Hermitage prepares his plane in the pit area just before taking to the field at the 2007 Fly-In competition.

CARMICHAELS – John Brodak’s famous annual Fly-In will have some special guests for its 21st year this week. A camera crew from the Argentinian television show “The Aeromodelista” will be here to broadcast the control-line airplane events on a national sports channel in Argentina.

“They are bringing a TV crew and an interpreter with them,” Brodak said. “It’s going to be pretty exciting.”

Brodak said the hobby is popular in South America, so he was flattered that the television crew wanted to film at his event in Carmichaels. Juan Carlos Pesce, an Argentinian television reporter, will be working with director Roberto Ihskanian and interpreter Pedro Soto to broadcast the Fly-In, according to a news release.

“They want to be part of it and film the whole thing and do an article for a magazine,” Brodak said.

It’s not the first time the Fly-In has received international attention. Brodak said they typically have control-line airplane enthusiasts from all over the world come to Greene County each year to compete, including from South Africa and South Korea. It’s also gotten attention from national model aviation magazines.

The Fly-In starts today and runs through Sunday on Brodak’s property in Cumberland Township, where he has six flying circles in his backyard. He expects there to be more than 400 flyers and guests and more than 800 competitive flights next week.

“We have so many events planned every day,” Brodak said. “This is 21 years – it’s hard to believe it’s been that long already.”

Brodak said when he first organized the Fly-In, it was a “family thing.” The first one was three days with 30 attendees. Since then, more than 2,500 pilots have made more than 10,000 competitive flights. The free event now draws enough people to stimulate Greene County’s economy, Brodak said.

“You have people coming from all over the United States and other countries, staying in hotels and eating at our restaurants,” Brodak said. “I’m so proud that it’s part of Greene County.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today