NATCHEZ — Over mounds of fried catfish, hushpuppies and talk of the newest navigational software, local pilots gathered at the Natchez-Adams Airport Saturday.

Airport Manager Clint Pomeroy said in the past year, new pilots have moved into the area, and Saturday’s fish fry was an opportunity for the local flying community to gather to meet some of its newest members.

“It’s just a way for everybody to get together and meet each other,” Pomeroy said. “Just a way to have fun.”

As an enormous pot of fish fried in an empty warehouse, pilots showed-off the latest and greatest technologies in their planes.

Pilot Jay Fitch moved to Natchez two years ago and said he appreciated the opportunity to be able to meet other local pilots in the area.

“It’s a great way to meet the other people that share a common interest,” Fitch said.

And Fitch said the Natchez-Adams Airport is one of the biggest reasons he and his wife are able to call the city home.

Fitch owns his own plane, which he uses to travel out of town on business more than twice a month.

And without a local airport, the couple would likely live elsewhere.

“There a lot of people in this city that don’t realize how valuable this asset is,” he said. “It’s really a first rate operation.”

And new work to improve the runway will guarantee that things at the airport continue to run smoothly.

Pomeroy said a newly completed crack-sealing project on one of the runways will add new life to the runway.

And while that project was funded with a $130,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, Pomeroy is currently applying for a second grant aimed at another crack-sealing project on the airport’s second runway.