Beach Flight Aviation's 'trike' makes an impression at National Shrimp Festival, flights available over the beach

 

GULF SHORES, Alabama -- It may look like a scooter attached to a hang-glider, but Beach Flight Aviation's sport plane, called the "trike," is a real, working aircraft that is drawing a lot of attention in the Outdoor Village vendor area at the 43rd Annual National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores. 

Dozens of people at a time are stopping by to check out the three-wheeled, open-cockpit aircraft, with some sitting in the cockpit and posing for photos. It's one of the more popular attractions in the Outdoor Village, which is saying something, two tents down from the Tacky Jacks' chainsaw carving demonstrations (more on those later). 

Beach Flight Aviation began setting up operations out of Jack Edwards Airport in Gulf Shores a few months ago, offering passengers the chance to ride in the trike with a pilot or learn to fly it themselves. Packages start at $95 for a 20-minute flight and progress up to $295 for a 90-minute experience that could go as far as Dauphin Island, weather permitting. 

Beach Flight co-owner Tony Castillo was with one trike on the festival grounds while his partner Gary Berdeaux took flights over the beach in the other. 

Castillo said their most popular routes were from Jack Edwards along Ala. 59 to the beach during the 20-minute flights, or east over Orange Beach for longer trips. But, he said there were possibilities of flying over other destinations. 

"Most people want to see the beach, but flying over the bay is beautiful too," Castillo said. 

The trikes are officially light sport aircraft, subject to FAA regulations like any other plane. Both Castillo and Berdeaux are long-time trike flyers who moved from Kentucky and Atlanta to the Alabama Coast, choosing to set up their new business in Gulf Shores. 
 
"There's nothing like it in this area," Castillo said. "They have it in California, Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, so we said 'why not here?'"

The sample aircraft is on the festival grounds this weekend at the 43rd National Shrimp Festival, which runs through 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information on the trikes, see the Beach Flight Aviation web site, and keep checking AL.com/beaches for full coverage of the National Shrimp Festival. 

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