January Story Review: Midwest Aviation Behind the Scenes

By Carmelo Turdo

The Aero Experience looks back on a great first month of 2024, which actually just "flew by" faster than we thought it would! We posted some great stories, and even more importantly, built new and stronger relationships with members of our Midwest Aviation community. Some of these efforts have borne immediate fruit, while others are being developed for future projects. For every story posted on The Aero Experience, there are many that can be shared as pictorials or videos in a summary format. Here we feature the coverage that was not included in our previous January posts.

Creve Coeur Airport, Maryland Heights, MO

The year began with a visit to Piston Aviation where we captured some of their instructional flights on January 2. Here we feature instrument student Alexis Noel and her CFII, Josh Kelley, as they take the Bristell LSA up for a flight. Piston's Cherokee and Musketeer were in the air as well. Alexis is sporting her new Duchess Air Rollout jet contrail design sneakers and Randolph Aviators. 

During the winter months, members of the St. Louis Gateway Chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation gather each weekend (and many weekdays as well) for recurrent training and heavy maintenance on their Huey and Cobra helicopters. We visited them last Saturday, and here we feature our personal tour by Roger Sulzer, retired U.S. Army pilot who test flew pre-production Hueys along with those later seeing active service.

 

The Gateway Youth Aeronautical Foundation began their second year providing the Intro to Flight Program to area students. Classes 10 and 11 began January 6, and we visited them a few Saturdays into the course to check on their progress. They were already learning pattern work on the V/R simulators and getting class time with instructor David Kleinschmidt.

Spirit of St. Louis Airport Chesterfield, MO

After over a week of low clouds and fog, activity resumed at area flight schools. We visited Elite Aviation at Spirit of St. Louis Airport January 31 to get an update on the Tecnam P2006T twin trainer now entering the fleet. The maintenance crew was completing the annual inspection on the Tecnam before it returns to the flightline for more instructor orientation before students can begin their multi-engine instruction. Here we have a sneak peak at the inspection and a look at some of the Elite Cessna 172S Skyhawks taxiing out for afternoon flights.

 

The Aero Experience thanks everyone with whom we worked to make January a great start to the year. Check out our feature stories from the month and all of the past posts on this site using the search function on the top right column of the home page. We look forward to what February holds for Midwest Aviation!