The Aero Experience Week In Review: Working Around the Weather

By Carmelo Turdo

The Aero Experience looks back on another great week in the Midwest Aviation community. Spring is in the air, along with the low clouds and precipitation! New and current projects were undertaken last week in challenging weather conditions, and this Week In Review post highlights some of them. As always, we thank you for supporting The Aero Experience as we promote Midwest Aviation.

On Thursday, April 7, a crew from Big River Aviation was on the road again from their St. Louis Downtown Airport location to Washington, MO Regional Airport to recover a Piper Cherokee Six that had been damaged while landing in winter weather in February. The aircraft will be inspected and the repairs made after consultation with the owner. 

Wings of Hope SOAR Into STEM, Session 2

Wings of Hope hosted Session 2 of the SOAR Into STEM program on Saturday, April 9, at their St. Louis World Headquarters hangar. This second of four sessions continued from the first by completing the flight trials with two types of gliders before progressing to the new activities shown below. Leading the program again this week was Robert Powell, Education Director for the Challenger Learning Center of St. Louis, with help from Wings of Hope Project Manager Majd Jmeian and a host of volunteer mentors. Session 2 focused on communication, navigation and flight simulation activities. Sessions 3, 4 and a Career Fair are scheduled for the remaining Saturdays in April.

Ideal Aviation hosted the first of two St. Louis ATC Meet Up programs Tuesday evening, April 12, at their St. Louis Downtown Airport facility. Controllers from St. Louis TRACON, St. Louis Downtown Airport and Spirit of St. Louis Airport gave a presentation and answered questions from over 80 attendees in two sessions. There was positive communication among the pilots and controllers in each session, and the second ATC Meet Up on April 19 at Creve Coeur Airport promises to be just as productive.

The Gateway Chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation continued to perform phase inspections on their Huey and Cobra helicopters at their Creve Coeur Airport location on Thursday, April 14. They are being prepared for flight events this summer where veteran crews give the public a chance to experience flight in these iconic aircraft. 

Also on Thursday at Creve Coeur Airport, a student and CFI from Gateway Flight Training were getting some practice flying crosswind patterns in the Piper Warrior. This rare clear day brought with it winds that kept most planes on the ground by the afternoon. Several aircraft are seen here undergoing maintenance, including an avionics upgrade for the Beech King Air, in the comfortable hangar.

On Friday, April 15, the Gateway Youth Aeronautical Foundation at Creve Coeur Airport received the Elite RC-1 Advanced Training Device donated by Elite Aviation from Spirit of St. Louis Airport. The RC-1 will eventually become part of the Foundation's flight simulation program that currently includes six V/R simulator stations for use in youth STEM programs.