Eclipse brings record private plane traffic to some Aroostook County airports
Photo / Bridget Reed Morawski
A man pushes a small plane into position at Houlton International Airport, while another man leans on the plane, holding his dog's leash.
With much of northern Maine squarely in the path of totality during Monday's total solar eclipse, the rare celestial event was expected to bring a wave of tourism and spending to Aroostook County. Much attention focused on travelers jamming up typically uncongested rural roads. But the county’s four airports saw a mixed turnout.
At Houlton International Airport, the airport manager and public works director said 11 flight plans had been filed with the airport as of around 10 a.m. on Monday, but the number of calls indicated many more would land.
“We've had over 200 calls for general aviation, smaller planes, but we believe there's gonna be somewhere around 60 landing here,” Chris Stewart said that morning. In a follow-up call on Tuesday, Stewart confirmed that record-breaking numbers had indeed landed — 10 jets and 40 smaller craft.
Scott Wardwell, airport manager of Presque Isle International Airport, anticipated before the eclipse that he would have “about 10 times what we normally see.” Ahead of the big day, airport staff were using Google Earth to map out where additional planes could be parked.
That day, Wardwell said around 30 aircraft arrived, including four 90-foot-long planes. One of those, he added, came from New York City with 40 people and enough catering for the group.
Around 30 planes in total came to Presque Isle, Wardwell said, 10 of which were carrying five to ten people each. Every other airplane that arrived was smaller, with four to six seats.
But as soon as the eclipse was over, everyone flew out, according to Wardwell. He believed some of the travelers rented cars and visited the downtown, but that there wasn’t as much to do in Presque Isle as in, for example, Houlton.
“We were happy [the eclipse] filled the airport up and stuff, but Houlton did a lot of activities,” Wardwell said. “Not that Presque Isle didn’t do some, but Houlton was more focused on it.”
Further north, significantly fewer planes arrived. David Ouelette, public works director in Caribou, said he had anticipated four or five arrivals at the local airport “if they were going to be lucky.” In the end, Caribou received just a single plane.
Even up in Frenchville, a border town outside of the path of totality, the Northern Aroostook Regional Airport fielded more calls than usual in the days leading up to the eclipse. Matthew Derosier, manager of the one-runway airfield, began receiving three to four calls a day starting last Wednesday, increasing to 11 calls on Sunday.
“It’s not a very large airport, so for me to get three or four calls a day [about] the eclipse is significant,” Derosier said. But on the big day, only one plane arrived, unloading passengers who headed straight to Caribou, where the eclipse viewing was better.
“I was really disappointed yesterday, I refused probably half the calls on Sunday in anticipation I was going to have a full house,” he added. “But it was far from that.”
Tuna sandwiches and camp chairs
Despite the boost in travelers, airport managers had predicted many people wouldn't leave the airports. That was the case for Gus Milano, who was content to sit on the runway and watch the eclipse pass. He flew to Houlton on Monday morning from northern New Jersey in a six-seat plane with his wife and a few tuna sandwiches.
Initially, the couple had planned to fly to Watertown, N.Y., but changed course after listening to weather reports. Instead of attending the slate of activities in downtown Houlton, he and his wife listened to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on the radio from a couple of camp chairs.
Derosier, in Frenchville, hadn’t expected much of an economic boost for the local community from the influx of private flights, based on his knowledge of their travel plans.
“Most of the people asked about coming in a little bit early to grab lunch somewhere,” Derosier said. Their general plan was to see the eclipse and head out the same day.
Nevertheless, Stewart — who estimated only around 25% of private flight passengers left Houlton's airfield — said he thinks there might still be an economic boost from the travelers.
“The goal here … is to have people see what we have here,” he said. “We have this little gem here of an airport, and we’re hoping people see this and want to come back when it’s not an eclipse, for a ride or for the day or for the weekend and enjoy themselves.
“I think the impacts overall are going to be big after this because it’s going to showcase what we have here,” Stewart added.
That could include Scott Clemons, who flew into Houlton International on Monday morning with nine other passengers and two pilots. He and his family decided early on Monday morning to fly from Minneapolis and planned to use the airport’s free shuttle to head into town and have lunch before the eclipse neared.
When asked if he would return to Houlton or to Maine, he said he had never been to the region previously. But now, “I would certainly consider it — it’s just such a gorgeous area.”
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