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.