Special EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019 Coverage Sponsored by Elite Aviation

The Aero Experience will provide year-round, team coverage of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019 thanks to the sponsorship of Elite Aviation! We will be in Oshkosh for 10 days, gathering one-of-a-kind aviation news and media that will be posted throughout the following year. The Aero Experience has become known as the media source for extended coverage of the nation's largest aviation event, and we will ensure that our audience is again well informed and entertained even through the winter months! 

The Aero Experience thanks Elite Aviation for their many great contributions to Midwest Aviation and for joining our team as a sponsor and advertiser. We highlight the services provided by Elite Aviation in the story linked below and the accompanying new video, and we encourage our audience to contact Elite Aviation for your flight training and aviation services needs.

Elite Aviation Raises the Standards for Flight Training, Aircraft Maintenance and Community Involvement 

Phantom Jet at St. Louis Regional Airport Getting New Paint Job During Restoration Project

By Carmelo Turdo

The Phantom jet on display at St. Louis Regional Airport received most of its new paint job during a fair weather spell over the weekend. Following the application of the primer coat on Friday, the three-color Southeast Asia camouflage paint scheme was clearly in evidence by Sunday afternoon. The aircraft, F-4C Phantom II serial number 63-7491, has been on display near the airport tower and restaurant since 1993. It is shown here receiving its second paint treatment since then by Joe Steimann, a USAF veteran airframe specialist who has restored this and other display aircraft in the region. Further work on the nose radome, trim and pedestal will continue for several more weeks.   

Soar Into STEM Students Participate in Flight Training Opportunity at Elite Aviation

By Carmelo Turdo

Students from the participating Kirkwood, Jennings and Ferguson-Florissant School Districts and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri participated in the flight training portion of the Soar Into STEM Program today at Elite Aviation. Soar Into STEM, held on each Saturday in April at Wings of Hope, provided the opportunity for students to apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills in the field of humanitarian aviation. The students learned about aeronautics, interacted with aviation professionals, and received hands-on experience working on aircraft. The flights were delayed due to unseasonably wet weather during the spring and early summer, but the students seemed to enjoy their long-awaited opportunity to fly in Elite's Cessna 172 trainers and pilot the state-of-the-art Redbird MCX full-motion simulator. 

The Aero Experience has been reporting on the Soar Into STEM program since April, and we continue with coverage of today's flights with Certified Flight Instructors Mitch and Luis and Redbird flight simulations with John Keich of Alpha Flight Simulation.

Wings of Hope is a global humanitarian charity and aviation non-profit organization. The main objectives are delivering humanitarian programs to the poor and assisting communities in gaining self-sufficiency. The original mission of providing humanitarian aid to people in developing countries using aircraft continues, and includes significant investment in programs that address health, education, economic opportunity and food security. In the U.S., Wings of Hope provides the Medical Relief and Air Transport (MAT) Program from its base in St. Louis. 

Elite Aviation, an authorized Cessna Pilot Center, offers the most comprehensive, standardized flight training program in the St. Louis area while providing a personalized approach to learning. Flight instructors integrate a variety of training tools and methods including: one-on-one ground school tutoring; flight training in late model Cessna Skyhawk aircraft using conventional and G1000 instrumentation; simulator training in the Elite RC1 and full-motion Redbird MCX programmable flight simulators; and periodic progress checks with other Elite Aviation flight instructors. 

The Aero Experience thanks Wings of Hope, Elite Aviation and all who contributed to make Soar Into STEM a great success.

Elite Aviation Flies Group of 2019 St. Louis Science Center Flight Academy Campers

By Carmelo Turdo

For the third year, Elite Aviation provided orientation flights for St. Louis Science Center Flight Academy campers today from their Spirit of St. Louis Airport facility. The week-long program (for those 13-16 years old) involved flight simulation sessions at the St. Louis Science Center, culminating in a flight with a Certified Flight Instructor in one of Elite Aviation's modern Cessna 172 Skyhawk fleet aircraft. Three aircraft were in the air, each flying two or three campers to Washington, MO Regional Airport and back on each flight. The campers appeared to enjoy their flights, and they demonstrated their aviation knowledge while assisting with the pre-flight and post-flight inspections. Several also expressed their interest in pursuing additional flight training in the future.

Southwest Swing: Scenes From Spring and Summer Forays From the Midwest, Part 2

By Fred Harl 

Several times each year, The Aero Experience forays out into the great Southwest and visiting interesting sites along the way. Whether driving or flying, the experience is as interesting as each destination. In this edition of our Southwest swing coverage, we visit a residential air park in New Mexico and two air and space museums. We hope that this and all of our travel posts encourage everyone to get out and experience our great country's aviation heritage.

Mid Valley Air Park in Los Lunas, NM

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, NM 

 

General Thomas P. Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK