While Superior Township is not home to any major airports like its neighboring townships, such as Mettatal, Willow Run, and Ann Arbor Municipal, it is home to a small but active airfield for radio-controlled aircraft. Located on Ridge Road, just north of the Geddes-Ridge roundabout, is the entrance to the Flying Pilgrims RC Club.
The Flying Pilgrims have an operational airspace of 2,500 by 1,320 feet as well as a 500-by-40-foot runway.
"This is one of the few RC clubs in southeastern Michigan to actually have a paved runway," said Dale Harrison, club president. "You'll find a lot of grass fields, but not many that have pavement. That's what makes it unique."
Dale was elected president at a meeting in March 2024 after their previous president, Bill Slabey, passed away in February of that year. According to Dale, the club has an average of 120-130 members every year, with a wide variety of personal aircraft.
"I mainly fly aerobatic type planes," Dale said when asked about his favorite model. "There's a lot of guys into warbirds out here, then you got the jet guys, turbines ... a little bit of everything."
"I got a Cirus, a Piper Cub, a Cessna 150T, a T28 ... that's a World War II airplane, I think," member Gary Figi said.
The club is a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, which is the national collective of model aviation clubs. The nonprofit academy is home to 2,476 clubs with more than 165,000 members in total.
There are four steps to follow to become a member of Flying Pilgrims RC.
- Fill out a membership form and mail it to Treasurer Jim Lorenz, or hand it to him at a club meeting.
- Provide proof of Academy of Model Aeronautics membership. Enrollment forms can be filled out on the academy's website.
- Pay an initial membership fee of $50, as well as a yearly fee of $100, also collected by the treasurer.
- Be registered under the Federal Aviation Administration to operate unmanned aircraft. Registration information can be found on the administration's website.
For new or inexperienced pilots, the club offers a weekly training course starting in early May and ending in late October. Classes take place at 5 p.m. Wednesdays and are free and open to all ages. After three months of training, students will be signed off and allowed to use the airfield for recreational flight, Harrison said.
Last fall, the club held its annual fall phase-out event, directed by club member Jack Javor. The event was a weekend of airshows, where the public was invited to visit and watch members pilot their planes of the airfield. Visitors were charged $5 per parking, and about 155 cars showed up to the event, according to the Flying Pilgrims' September 2025 newsletter. Although the date for the 2026 event is not set in stone, the fall events usually take place in late September, Harrison said.
Figi filmed the 2025 event and uploaded the video to his YouTube channel trainroomgary.
Club meetings are held at 7 p.m. the third Wednesday of every month. Summer meetings (June-August) are held at the airfield, while meetings the rest of the year (September-May) are held at the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 113 building at Mettatal Airport, located at 8550 Lilley Road in Canton.
Topics of discussion at meetings include airfield maintenance, club finance and event planning. At the end of each meeting is a show-and-tell, during which members can show off their personal aircraft to the rest of the club. Monthly newsletters are published on the Flying Pilgrims' website, each documenting the attendance and subjects of discussion of that month's meeting. All meetings are open to visitation from nonmembers.
The report from the November 2025 newsletter states that the club has 142 members.
"Some people buy motorcycles," member Phil Salata said. "Others are into hot rods. Us? We're just boys with toys."
The airfield is open to members and visitors year-round from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and from noon to 8 p.m. Sundays. More information is available on the club's website.
