On Site with The Aero Experience: General Aviation at Spirit of St. Louis Airport and St. Charles Regional Airport - Smartt Field

By Carmelo Turdo

The Aero Experience continues our new year of general aviation coverage with more sponsor visits from last weekend. On Sunday, we returned to Spirit of St. Louis Airport where Elite Aviation operates from the north apron. Even during this severe cold spell, the Elite Aviation Cessna Skyhawks were in the air on local pilot training and rental flights. Along with the launch and recovery of the Elite Aviation fleet, we also include some general aviation activity from Air Evac LifeTeam Bell Long Ranger and Bell 407, a Randigo Cessna Caravan survey aircraft, a visit from Piston Aviation's Piper Arrow and a beautiful Beech V35 Bonanza for good measure!   

We also made our way to St. Charles Regional Airport - Smartt Field for Piston Aviation's Grand Opening event on Saturday. The snow squall moved past to the south and the sun popped out occasionally throughout the bitterly cold day. Regardless of the weather, the event drew a steady stream of visitors and some of the planned discovery flights were accomplished in the airport pattern. The Grand Opening will be covered in a future post, but here is a preview along with a few other aircraft as seen from the west apron.