Special Olympics Illinois Plane Pull Fundraiser held at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport

By Carmelo Turdo

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport hosted the Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run and Special Olympics Illinois Southern Plane Pull on Saturday, May 31. Plane pull teams gathered at the AVMATS hangar for the opening ceremony and team captain briefing prior to the first pull at 10:00 A.M. Pull teams, event sponsors and individual donors raised over $18,000 to improve the lives of 30,000 young and intellectually disabled athletes throughout the state.

Each team had their chance to score the best time for a twelve foot pull of a United Express Bombardier CRJ-550, the standard 50-seat aircraft used by St. Louis-based GoJet to serve 50 destinations with over 250 flights per day around the country. Here we feature the championship round pulls along with volunteers and pull teams in their group photos.

The awards ceremony followed the last championship pull, with the following results:

Open Division Team Spirit Award: 5 Elements - SIFU

Athlete Division Top Fundraising Team: O'Fallon, IL Police Department

Athlete Division Champions: Parent Teacher Organization for Exceptional Children PTOEC 

Public Safety Division Champions: Fairview Heights, IL Police Department

The Aero Experience thanks Special Olympics Illinois, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, GoJet and everyone who sponsored and participated in making this an outstanding event:

Presenting Sponsors: Ameren, AVMATS, GoJet Airlines, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, and St. Clair County

Gold Sponsor: OST Rental

Silver Sponsors: Ace Hardware, Holland Construction Services, First Community Credit Union, QuickTrip

Bronze Sponsor: Republic Parking