The Aero Experience Two Weeks In Review: Spring Is In the Air

By The Aero Experience Team

The Aero Experience looks back on the last two weeks of Midwest aviation activity as we enjoy some mild weather with the official start of spring just around the corner. While we continue to provide regular feature stories for our sponsors, we also make regular observations of aviation in action along the way. Here we include a brief review of activities from three St. Louis-area airports. 

Spirit of St. Louis Airport, Chesterfield, MO

Elite Aviation 

The Aero Experience visited Elite Aviation two times so far in March to gather material for the stories previewed here below. We met with CFII Connor Stuart, whom we featured last July in our coverage of the Red Tail Cadet cross-country flight from St. Louis to Sikeston, MO. We conducted an in-flight interview in one of Elite Aviation's Cessna 172S G1000-equipped fleet aircraft that concluded with a perfectly-timed sunset landing. The full story and video will be featured in a future post.

During our visits to Elite Aviation, we also interviewed Maintenance Manager A&P/IA Jeff Lucchesi to get an update on the state of aviation maintenance at a large flight school and aircraft service provider. Servicing ten fleet aircraft that fly multiple times per day, along with external customer aircraft, can be a challenge under the best of circumstances. The full story will also be featured in a future post.

Wings of Hope

Wings of Hope, the global humanitarian non-profit organization, is also located at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. The mission of Wings of Hope is to change and save lives through the power of aviation, and they are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary this year. Last week, they hosted a pre-gala professional networking event produced by C3 Business Consultants to introduce Wings of Hope to the local business community. All in attendance gave their full attention to a special guest, twelve-year-old Claire, who received Medical Relief & Air Transport Program flights through Wings of Hope for lifesaving medical care outside of St. Louis and is now doing great! Below are some views of the guests and Wings of Hope volunteers who made the event a success.

St. Louis Downtown Airport, Cahokia Heights, IL

Our coverage now moves to St. Louis Downtown Airport, where we have two more stories under development for full coverage in future posts. First, we have a preview of a local flight with our friend, John Cosgrove, in his Piper Cherokee 180. We were happy to catch up with him again on an another unusually warm winter day for a flight delayed by quirky Midwestern weather and his schedule as a first officer for a major airline. The full story and video from the flight will be featured in a future post.

 

The Aero Experience visited the airport's piston aircraft maintenance provider, Big River Aviation, multiple times over the last two weeks to cover several stories. We were on site to gather material for Big River Aviation's contribution to our upcoming aircraft maintenance series. Last week we also chronicled the fifty-hour inspection conducted on a U.S. Forest Service DeHavilland Beaver aircraft temporarily based in Rolla, MO for fire patrol duties. Here we feature the hangar full of aircraft and work conducted on the Beaver. An added bonus to the story was the visit by local pilot, Jerry Hawkins, who previously flew a Beaver in a law-enforcement capacity. He met with the Beaver's pilot, Joe Schoolcraft, and had the opportunity to sit in the aircraft and reminisce before it departed following the inspection sign-off. The full story and video will be featured in a future post.

Creve Coeur Airport, Maryland Heights, MO

The Aero Experience can frequently be found at Creve Coeur Airport visiting our flight school sponsors and working with the Gateway Youth Aeronautical Foundation (GYAF) STEM programs. The first two eight-week Intro to Flight sessions held their final class and graduation on Saturday. The participants completed their final challenge - Creve Coeur Airport scored pattern exercise - on the V/R flight simulators. Each session point leader was awarded a flight bag, donated by St. Charles Flying Service, containing training materials and equipment needed for Private Pilot training. Intro to Flight participants from the first two Saturday and the current Sunday Session were also given Young Eagle Flights by members of EAA Chapter 32 who volunteered their time and aircraft to make the day extra special. The full story and video will be featured in a future post. 

We were also at the airport when our friend, Alexis Noel, completed her Private Pilot check ride on Saturday afternoon. She completed her training at Piston Aviation and had several postponements of her check ride due to the weather and DPE availability in recent weeks. Here we celebrate her success with some views of her return from the check ride with DPE Scott and CFI Alan, and a visit to the Gateway Chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation where she crews the Huey.

The Aero Experience thanks everyone who hosted us during these airport visits, and we look forward to posting additional coverage of these and other Midwest Aviation stories very soon.