Enjoy Pancakes and Planes at St. Louis Regional Airport Breakfast Fundraiser

Our Daily Show Interview! EAA Chapter 864 Pancake Breakfast This Saturday!

BETHALTO/EAST ALTON - Community members are invited to an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast featuring airplanes.

From 7:30–11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2025, EAA Chapter 864 will host their annual pancake breakfast at Piston Aviation at the St. Louis Regional Airport. Attendees can enjoy a breakfast buffet with the local aviation community while supporting educational opportunities for students in the region.

“We have a good time when we have everybody out at the airport to see the airplanes and just learn about aviation,” said Jan with EAA Chapter 864.

Jan and Randy explained that several pilots will fly in for the breakfast, and the public can check out the airplanes at the St. Louis Regional Airport during the event. Breakfast costs $10 for adults and $5 for kids ages 4–12; kids under age 3 eat free.

The proceeds go to EAA Chapter 864 programs, including many educational opportunities for local kids. In addition to offering a scholarship to aspiring aviators, Chapter 864 sponsors a Young Eagles program that provides free orientation flights to kids ages 8–17.

“We just take them on an orientation flight, give them that spark for the possibilities of aviation, and then tie in that education, math and science and engineering, just to get them excited about potential career opportunities,” Jan explained.

The EAA’s Young Eagles program has flown 2.3 million kids over the past 30 years. Chapter 864 always looks forward to providing this opportunity for local kids in the Riverbend region.

They will sponsor a Young Eagles Day on June 7, 2025, to take kids on flights. For more information about Young Eagles Day at the St. Louis Regional Airport, including how to register your child for a flight, click here.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Randy said of the Young Eagles flights. “Quite a few of those first-time kids are apprehensive about going up in an airplane, and I really understand that. But I’ll go and take the kids for a walk around the airplane, show them the different control systems, how the airplane actually flies, what it takes to maneuver the airplane. Once we do that, we’ll get in, start up, we’ll listen to the weather, talk to the control tower, taxi out to the runway, we’ll get approval for takeoff, and we’ll go for a 15–20-minute ride around the area…They can see where they are within the community.”

The pancake breakfast allows EAA Chapter 864 to host events like Young Eagles Day. Randy and Jan hope to see many people out on Saturday, May 17, 2025, to enjoy the breakfast, check out the airplanes and support their educational programs for youth.

For more information about the pancake breakfast, check out the official Facebook event page. EAA Chapter 864 meets at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month at the St. Louis Regional Airport administration building. To learn more about EAA Chapter 864, including how to join, visit their official webpage or their Facebook page.

“Anybody that’s got any interest in aviation [is welcome to join],” Jan added. “They don’t have to be pilots. We welcome anybody. It’s great social interaction. We’ve got people of all ages. We’ve got people who are 15–16 years old in our chapter, all the way up to 80-year-olds. We’ve had a lady, 65, retire from her job and get a pilot’s license. Aviation is for anybody at any age level.”

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