BIDDEFORD – What’s a little fog and mist when it comes to getting a chance for an up close look at airplanes, fire trucks and emergency vehicles?

Not much at all, as evidenced by the hundreds of people at the Biddeford Airport Open House on Saturday.

The low ceiling and fog off the water made flying off-limits, but that only seemed to make it easier for  the young and not-so-young to get an up close and personal look at the airplanes on the tarmac.

The Biddeford Airport, with its 3,000-foot runway, has been part of the city’s landscape since the 1930s, built as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal during the depths of the Great Depression.

Today, Biddeford Airport is a popular venue for single- and twin-engine airplanes and helicopters, said Friends of Biddeford Airport Chairman Jerry Bernier. Local corporations use the airport to fly people and goods to a number of locations.

There is a flight school based at the airport and a skydiving business, and pilots who volunteer with Angel Flight New England use the field to fly patients whose financial resources would not otherwise enable them to receive treatment or diagnosis for medical care, according to the Angel Flight website.

Business partners Rich Fowler and Nick Sergi established Skydive Coastal Maine at the airport a couple of years ago using a Cessna 182.

He’s got more than 9,000 jumps under his belt, Fowler said on Saturday.

Aiden Herling, visiting his grandmother in Arundel over the weekend, seemed enthused – but at 13, he has five years to wait before he can take that first step out of an airplane in flight.

Jeff Surran, a commercial pilot for Jet Blue, operates a flight school. York County Coastal Aviation offers single-engine training courses at Biddeford Airport. Surran, who formerly flew in the military, estimated an individual could earn their private pilots license in about 6 to 8 months. The company located at the airport a couple of years ago and also offers scenic flights.

Over in a hangar, Steve Wood, also of Arundel, was examining an ultralight.

“I’ve always been interested in aircraft,” he said as he gave the plans a close examination.

Also on hand for the event was the Civil Air Patrol Sanford Composite Squadron, displaying their aircraft and encouraging people to give the organization a try – the group meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays in the big blue hangar off Presidential Lane at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport.

There were a number of vendors and sponsors of the event.

Bernier noted that the airport recently received a $7.5 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration that he said will be used for a number of projects.

According to a news release issued by the City of Biddeford in May, the projects will enhance airport safety by reconstructing the runway, runway lighting and markings, improving runway safety areas and drainage, and preparation of a plan for compliance with storm water standards.

The grant is funded at 100 percent through the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program, with no local share required. The airport was one of 127 airports chosen from across the country to receive funding through this round of grants.

Bernier said airport manager Kris Reynolds deserves credit for his work to improve the airport, and said Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant and the Biddeford City Council have lent a lot of support to the airport.

“The airport is getting busier and busier,” Bernier said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.