Happy New Year! Besides the holiday, you can celebrate 100 years of high times — the first ever commercial flight took place a century ago in St. Pete.
[jump]Festivities begin at 9 a.m. next to the St. Petersburg Museum of History on the downtown waterfront.
Using journals and clippings, the Early Birds of Aviation have provided a story about the fateful day on their website. The page describes how on Dec. 31, 1913, a Benoist Safety First airboat was set up and test-hopped by Tony Jannus with a James Foley as passenger. The next day, on Jan. 1, 1914, the first trip of a regular scheduled airline was made. First flight tickets were auctioned off, and the proceeds given to the Benoist Co. Ex-mayor of St. Petersburg A. C. Pheil became the world's first scheduled passenger when he bid $400 for the first flight. Mr. Noel E. Mitchell was second with a $175 bid.
Eddie Hoffman Jr. will fly a back-up airboat replica, the Hoffman X-4 “Mullet Skiff,” an amphibious flying boat, in a reenactment flight at 10 a.m. In 1984, Hoffman built and flew a full-scale replica of the 1914-era Benoist Airboat, which is now on permanent display at the St. Pete Museum of History's First Flight Pavilion, 335 Second Ave. N.E. Learn more about the event and anniversary here.