Piston Aviation Holiday Party Serves Up Good Cheer, Discovery Flights and Special Guest Appearances

By Carmelo Turdo

Piston Aviation served up a hearty helping of good cheer and high-flying adventures at their annual holiday party at Creve Coeur Airport on Saturday, December 9. In typical Piston Aviation style, the day contained a lot of flying and a lot of fun, with some special guests coming from far and wide (even the North Pole) to make the day more enjoyable. The sunny skies and mild temperatures provided a perfect backdrop for the celebration.

Preparation for the event stretched back several months, and some key objectives had to be met to provide the maximum fun factor. A major accomplishment was achieved on November 28 with the arrival of Piston Aviation's newest aircraft, a TomarkAero SD4 Viper LSA with all the bells and whistles. It sports a vibrant mint green and black paint scheme, which has since been "Pistonized" with the recognizable bulldog with wings logo. Named Electra, the Viper has joined the training fleet serving alongside the two Bristell LSAs, the Piper Cherokees and Beech Musketeer. Maximum effort was made to prepare and crew all of the aircraft for a full day of discovery flights, and they were ready for the early Saturday morning rollout. On Thursday and Friday, the crew from Plane Clean Aviation Detailing Services was busy making the fleet shine and smell great for the big day. But that's just the beginning of the story.

     

We begin our coverage with a visit to the Piston Aviation hangar lounge and crew facility where the party was getting into full swing. There was plenty of food and fellowship to go around, and two of the special guests, Santa and the Grinch, had a "friendly discussion" about who was in charge. We met some of the local Women in Aviation chapter members, including some true aviation leaders - Jill Rempala, Meghen Ord and Alexis Noel - while glider contests were held in the hangar below.

Throughout the day, Piston Aviation CFIs provided twenty-six discovery flights in the fleet training aircraft, including the new Viper LSA. Discovery flights give the rider the opportunity to fly the aircraft under the careful watch of the instructor, giving those serious about flight training a taste of the actual thing. Several new student pilots will emerge from the day's discovery flights, while some too young to start now will no doubt continue to nurture their interest for a few more years. 

A surprise visitor (well not to us) arrived about midmorning - Justin Miller flew his Pitts Toxic Stinker aerobatic plane to Creve Coeur Airport from his home base in Cedar Rapids, IA to spend the day at the Piston Aviation party. We met Justin at the IAC Chapter 61 Giles Henderson Memorial Challenge Aerobatic Contest held in Salem, IL last September where he won his category before running up a string of victories including this year's Nationals. His entrance was punctuated by a smoke pass and overhead break to landing. The color scheme was curiously similar to Piston Aviation's new Viper LSA, and that was part of the fun!

It was no coincidence that the two aircraft were positioned together for a photo session along with Justin Miller and Viper crew Piston Aviation CFII/MEI Josh Kelley and Alexis Noel, Private Pilot and Instrument Rating student. During the photo shoot, Santa and the Grinch joined them and got into another scuffle, with Santa again the victor. 

During the "Green Machine" photo shoot, another one of our friends, David Adams, arrived with his LongEZ Racing 83. David Adams has won many races in this aircraft, and we have featured him in our recent EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 coverage. He is extremely generous with his time, often seen at fly-ins, EAA Young Eagle events and in hangars helping fellow LongEZ owners complete their build or modification projects. We immediately welcomed him, and he joined our gathering of unique aircraft before returning to his home field in Sullivan, MO.

Following the photo shoot, Justin Miller strapped into his Pitts and joined Alexis Noel and Josh Kelley for a local area formation flight with the Viper. Here we feature the taxi and takeoff sequence along with some inside views from Alexis in the Viper. The Viper took off first, circled the field at pattern altitude and was quickly joined by Justin in the Toxic Stinker after a brief, steep climb! 

The Aero Experience thanks Piston Aviation and their staff for hosting a great aviation event! We also thank Justin Miller for flying down for the day and David Adams for flying in from Sullivan, MO to spend time with us as well. And thank you to everyone who visited the event - we hope that you enjoy aviation as much as we do!