OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A local teenager hopes to bring airplanes to the beach on Sept.30.

Chase Walker, an airplane enthuisiast who attends Old Orchard Beach High School is organizing, with help from local community organization OOB365, Wings 4 Wishes, a “fly in” to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“We have 30 planes that are going to land right on the beach,” said Walker at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting.  He said he’s been planning the event for about a year and a half, and glad to have a lot of people and businesses enthused about it.

The Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday for a special event permit to allow the event to occur on the beach north of The Pier on Sept. 30, pending approval from the Department of Environmental Protection.

Town Council Chairman Joe Thornton said he looks forward to the event and was impressed that this was spearheaded by a high school student, and also commended OOB365 for “thinking outside the box.”

“This is exciting. This is going to be something else. I appreciate the work that everyone’s put into this,” he said.

Councilor Jay Kelley recalled a similar event that drew planes to the beach in the 1970s and said he was looking forward to the event in September as well. “This is fantastic,” he said.

Town Manager Larry Mead said he viewed a video of the event in the 1970s and noted that there were large crowds of people attending.  He said he was impressed with Chase’s work in organizing the event, and said it took “a lot of determination and vision.” 

This year marks the 90th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh landing on the beach in Old Orchard Beach. On July 24, 1927, Lindbergh was scheduled to land at an airport in Scarborough, but due to fog was diverted to the sands of Old Orchard Beach, according to Old Orchard Beach Historian Daniel Blaney in his book, “Old Orchard Beach,” part of Arcadia Publishing Postcard History Series.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.