The Aero Experience Week In Review: St. Louis Aviation Community Closes June on a High Note

By Carmelo Turdo

The Aero Experience continues our coverage of the Midwest Aviation community with a look back on some great accomplishments over the last week. Demand for aviation services remains strong, and here we include examples of the local response to that demand. This survey will include our visits to three airports since our previous full-length story and before the recent General Aviation (and More!) post. We are also working on long-range projects and bolstering our affiliations with area aviation businesses and STEM programs, and the results of these efforts will be featured in future posts.

Creve Coeur Airport, Maryland Heights, MO

Creve Coeur Airport is host to a growing number of aviation businesses along with a variety of aircraft whose designs span nearly a century.  On Saturday, June 25, the airport hosted a FAASTeam safety seminar, "Aircraft Owner/Operator Maintenance Requirements." Sponsored by Gateway Flight Solutions and led by maintenance and safety expert, Bill Hopper, the session was livestreamed and covered a wide range of topics including pilot authorized preventive maintenance, inspections, and the proper logbook entries required after each maintenance procedure as outlined in the FARs. The interactive session was an excellent forum to discuss the real-world maintenance recording methods used by experienced pilots and A&P mechanics. Another valuable session covered the current state of aircraft insurance and remotely hosted by the Marsh McClennan Agency.

While at Creve Coeur Airport, we also visited Gateway Flight Solutions and the Gateway Chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation.

St. Charles County Smartt Field, Portage Des Sioux, MO

On Sunday, June 26, we visited St. Charles Flying Service at St. Charles County Smartt Field near the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Flight operations had to wait out a weather system that moved through the area, but eventually the skies cleared and the fleet took to the air. Among those flying that afternoon was our friend Allyssa VanMeter, who was taking her Commercial Pilot Certificate checkride in her club's Piper Archer. 

St. Louis Downtown Airport, Cahokia, IL

Last week, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology held their Aviation Summer Academy at the Center for Aviation Science on the airport. During our Wednesday visit, some of the high school students departed on cross-country flights to Mount Vernon, IL and back while others toured the airport fire station and took a ride out to one of the runways in the incident support bus. The students also met with Airport Director, Sandra Shore.

For more coverage of the airport traffic captured during our visits throughout the month, see our recent General Aviation (and More!) Survey post.