Greenville, IL Fly-In Has High Turnout, Offers Ride and Skydiving Opportunities

By Carmelo Turdo

The annual Greenville, IL Municipal Airport Fly-In was held Saturday, August 24. Sponsored by the Greenville Pilots Association, EAA Chapter 1382 and the airport, the event presents an opportunity for the local community to experience aviation by visiting with fly-in pilots and taking flights in a selection of aircraft. An exhilarating tandem parachute jump with a Gateway Skydiving Center instructor was also a popular activity in the sky over Greenville.

The Aero Experience was back in Greenville to enjoy the day with our Midwest Aviation community. Inside the main hangar, guests enjoyed the pancake breakfast or midday lunch. 

Aircraft based at Greenville, including a helicopter from the Air Evac LifeTeam 137, were joined by a variety of others flown in from neighboring airports. From Baron twins to Cherokees, Skyhawks, Cardinals, experimentals and gyrocopters, they were all passing through sometime during the day. Here we include a survey of the fly-in traffic, including visits from our friends - Mark Schuler in his blue and white Skyhawk, Mark Harter in his beautiful cabin Waco, Tim and Max Harter in their Aeronca Champ, Dave Adams in his LongEZ and Dave Harrington and Emma Landwehr in the Beech Musketeer. 

 

Discovery flights were given in the Greenville Pilots Association Cessna 172s. Other riders chose to fly in the open cockpit World War II trainers, the legendary Boeing Stearman PT-17 used by the USAAF and USN and Kevin Kegin's American Warbird Waco UPF-7 once used by civilian flight schools to train additional USAAF cadets in the early 1940s. This year the Gateway Chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation provided ride opportunities in their Vietnam-era Huey and Cobra helicopters. 

Gateway Skydiving Center, based at Greenville, provides tandem skydives and training courses with internationally recognized instructors. Here we feature two drops with tandem jumpers. For more details about Gateway Skydiving Center, see our story from a previous year's event coverage: Passion for Parachutes: Gateway Skydiving Center Brings Two Generations of Excellence to the Midwest. 

The Aero Experience thanks the Greenville Municipal Airport community for providing this great Midwest Aviation event! We also thank those who flew in and those providing life-changing flight experiences.