Springtime Finally Comes to the Midwest: March General Aviation (and More!) Survey

By Carmelo Turdo and Fred Harl

The Aero Experience team returns following a short break during which we have been on the road and in the air gathering more Midwest Aviation story material. We have a backlog of great stories to post this week, and it promises to be busy through most of the year from now on (as we like it)! We start off the new month with a survey of the general aviation, business and charter aircraft we encountered during the month of March at five separate airports. Other stories from March and already this week will take us to other locations in future posts. We hope that you will enjoy this photo essay, and you may see yourself here somewhere if you look closely!

Farmington, MO Regional Airport

An early March snow event is visible here in two photos below, though the snow melted away by the end of the first week of the month. Here we have a mix of general aviation aircraft, a utility helicopter and Textron's Grand Caravan large turboprop workhorse.  

Spirit of St. Louis Airport, Chesterfield, MO

Spirit of St. Louis Airport is home to general aviation and a significant percentage of the St. Louis area's corporate fleets. Here we feature aircraft used for training and rental at Elite Aviation; an aircraft being prepared for missionary work in Paraguay at Wings of Hope; the Cessna 172 used by the new STL Aviators Flying Club; Long Ranger helicopters used by Air Evac Life Team for training; a Bell 412 used by Emerson Electric Company; a St. Louis County Police MD-500E and a variety of general and business aviation aircraft.

Creve Coeur Airport, Maryland Heights, MO

Our visit to Creve Coeur Airport coincided with the Missouri Aviation Historical Society meeting mid-month. Prior to the meeting, one of the guests, Mr. Paul Haglin, the founder of Spirit of St. Louis Airport, was flown in for his 90th birthday party in a Cessna 195B similar to one he once owned. We feature Andy Sharpe's aircraft below.

St. Louis Downtown Airport, Cahokia, IL

St. Louis Downtown Airport is home to a large general aviation community along with business aviation aircraft. Featured below is a visit to the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum, located in historic Curtiss-Wright Hangar 2; two piston-engine transports - a World War II veteran Douglas C-47A/DC-3C and a Convair 440; a small sample of the training aircraft on the apron; the beautiful Piper Comanche, Grace; several aircraft from the Parks College (St. Louis University) fleet; several corporate aircraft and the Air Canada Airbus A319 charter for the Colorado Avalanche NHL team.

Sikeston, MO Memorial Municipal Airport

The last day of March led us to the fly-out to Sikeston, MO for lunch at the famous Lambert's Café not far from the airport. We flew there and back from St. Louis Downtown Airport with the Tarlow family in their Piper Comanche, Grace. We made great time in the air, and the Comanche handled the passenger and fuel load easily before and after lunch! We will have more on our flight in a future post.