An airport southeast of Edmonton marked 100 years of operations on Saturday. Cooking Lake Airport is considered Canada’s oldest operating public airport, and it’s run entirely by volunteers. “It’s so significant in Alberta,” said event organizer Kimberly Fraser. The site is home to a 3,000-foot runway, 200 aircraft and 100 hangars. It’s the home of a busy flight school and is used primarily for training, business and recreation. “We’ve got one of the busiest flight schools in Alberta,” said volunteer Jim Johannsson. Cooking Lake keeps busy providing Angel Flights – free medical support transportation – and delivering dental clinics to remote First Nations communities. It’s also home to Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) pilots and volunteers, a first response network for search and rescue run through the Canadian Armed Forces. Saturday’s turnout included flight schools, Edmonton police flight operations, STARS air ambulance crews, RCMP and other aviation and local organizations. The Cooking Lake Airport is located about 25 kilometres southeast of Edmonton. With files from TV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum
