The Aero Experience Week In Review: Spring Is In the Air

By Carmelo Turdo

The Aero Experience looks back on another great week in the Midwest Aviation community, and spring is definitely in the air along with the aircraft (and the pollen)! It is now time to complete those winter projects and plan for the summer events that will be here before you know it. This Week In Review post highlights several events in recent days and looks ahead to some of the stories we are preparing for future posts. As always, we thank you for supporting The Aero Experience as we promote Midwest Aviation.

Last July, The Aero Experience was honored to cover the birthday celebration of World War II veteran Mustang pilot Thomas (Tony) Gibbons, who was celebrating his 101st birthday. He was treated to a flight in the P-51 Rosalie, flown by Paul Barnett, and the flight was captured in photos and video by his son Mike Gibbons in the AT-6F Texan chase plane flown by Greg Vallero. The story was published in the current issue of Skylines Magazine from the North American Trainer Association. 

On Saturday, The Space Museum in Bonne Terre, MO unveiled a special donation recently received on loan from NASA - Astronaut Gus Grissom's Ambassador of Exploration Award containing a moon rock recovered by the Apollo 16 crew. Formerly displayed at Walt Disney World Epcot Center in Orlando, FL, the exhibit is one of 35 distributed to museums and universities around the country. Lowell Grissom, the brother of Gus Grissom, is a long-time supporter of The Space Museum and was a speaker at the acceptance ceremony. Photos seen here were provided by Fred Harl who attended the event.

Big River Aviation made substantial progress last week on the major repairs performed on a Piper Malibu Mirage that received substantial damage after leaving the wet runway last June at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport. The aircraft received a new firewall, engine mounts, engine, propeller and overhauled nose gear before being ferried to St. Louis Downtown Airport on Sunday. The annual inspection will be completed there before the aircraft is returned to service.

While at St. Louis Downtown Airport on Friday, we were happy to witness the helicopter solo for Cole Long, seen here with CFI Casey Kroeker from Ideal Aviation. The Guimbal Cabri G2 is used for helicopter flight training in the Part 141 helicopter and fixed-wing flight school.  

On Saturday, Wings of Hope began the current session of SOAR Into STEM at the humanitarian aviation non-profit's world headquarters at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. The 28 high school students will meet each Saturday in April, concluding with Discovery Flights and a career fair at Elite Aviation. Here we have Robert Powell of the Challenger Learning Center teaching basic flight principles, Elsa Klarich speaking about her humanitarian flight experience in Tanzania and the glider construction and flying activity. More coverage of each session coming soon on The Aero Experience. 

Last week The Aero Experience was privileged to interview Sandra Shore, the new Director of St. Louis Downtown Airport. We will have the story and video coming soon, and here are a few photos from our visit.