Between the two local airlines and 6 international carriers, on a good day, there are as many as 62 planes in the skies over Belize. That is a long way from 1928 when Pan Am first started with their "flying boat" between Miami and Belize, or 1978 when Tropic Air began operating from a hot dog stand in San Pedro. Yes, Belize has tallied thousands of frequent flyer miles and today the achievements of the industry were recognized at a grand celebration. The day was marked by the a BDF fly over, helicopter rides, and demonstrations but the main attraction was the history as told by the Archives Department. That is where our story begins.

Keith Swift Reporting,
Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" wasn't the first plane to visit Belize but on December 30th 1927 it was the first aircraft to touch Belizean soil. The following year, this Sikorksy S38 aircraft began twice weekly flights between Central America and the United States.

Fast forward 50 years and you are looking at a Boeing 707-720 jet belonging to Belize Airways Limited - Belize's first and, to this day, only national airline. BAL began flights from the International Airport on October 1st of 1977. Three years later bankruptcy forced BAL to ground its fleet and they flew the final flight in January of 1980.

But Belizeans kept flying, first there was Taca which even the Pope flew followed by American Airlines. That is the history of civil aviation in Belize as told in pictures provided by the Archives Department. It was on display for civil aviation day. Brian Dominguez is from the Civil Aviation Department.

Brian Dominguez, Civil Aviation Department
"We need to get out and let the future of civil aviation, the young people, know that civil aviation is for each and everyone of us. There is also like a myth that aviation is very sophisticated, it's too hard, and that's not true. Aviation needs to be explored in this country; this is the only country in which aviation has been so stagnated. We need to uncap it."

And perhaps this is the future of civil aviation, private companies like Toucan Adventures Limited finding a connection between civil aviation and tourism with air tours. Toucan took us on a tour 1,000 feet over Belize City beside pilot Aaron Grisby in his Bel Ranger 206 helicopter. The chopper belongs to Toucan Adventures and its owner Errol Pratt says this is the future of aviation in Belize.

Errol Pratt, Toucan Adventures
"Helicopters are the thing right now because you can put that helicopter in a small confined area and you can assist people in emergencies while with a fixed wing aircraft you have to have a landing strip but this thing, look at it, we put it down right here in the ball field. Our mission is to do medical emergencies and try to get into tourism and take the tourists from point A to point B and the next thing we would like to do is search and rescue to assist the military."

But today there was no emergency, the Bel 3 was giving fun rides to primary school children who told us what its like 1,000 feet above Belize City.

Child #1,
"Its very exciting. The best part was flying around over the houses. It was really nice."

Child #2,
"I saw my house. It looked small."

Child #3,
"It was scary because we were height, the height we were at."

Child #2,
"Flying over the water was scary because I thought we would have crashed."

Child #1,
"Scary part for me was kind of when we were taking off because I am not used to helicopters so much. I've flown in a lot of planes before but this is the first time in a helicopter."

And perhaps that is a fitting end to civil aviation day, the future of Belize riding the wave of the future.

Toucan Adventures hopes to start flying commercially as early as January. During today's ceremony, Air Traffic Controller Marsha Hinkson was recognized as the first female Belizean air traffic controller.