By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Pony Express Short Takeoff and Landing, or STOL, competition is happening Saturday at Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph.
It’s the first time ever the national competition will make a stop in St. Joseph as pilots compete towards the championships in November.
Co-Founder of FlyTech Flight Academy at Rosecrans Lute Atieh says pilots will display impressive feats in short takeoffs and landings
“These planes are essentially landing and taking off, many of them in under 20 feet,” Atieh tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So imagine, we’ve all seen the wingspan of a C-130, so you’re landing and taking off in far less than the width of the wing of a C-130, it’s really amazing.”
Atieh says the whole goal for pilots will be going as slow as they can and hit the ground while rolling as few feet as possible
“It’s a very delicate balance between the air speed required to stay in the air and going slow enough to where you can hit the brakes and stop within 12 to 15 feet, so you’re talking a very short landing period” Atieh explains. “Now some of the newer participants are going to land much longer, 30, 40, 50, 100 feet, 130 feet, some of the more experienced pilots are going to land in less than 12 feet.”
Atieh hopes the event will be well attended and that it can become an annual event at Rosecrans. There is a practice round happening today also at Rosecrans.
Atieh says the event Saturday goes mostly all day, and people are welcome to come and go as they please
“Just come out to the airport, there’s going to be signs, there’s going to be parking and it’s all very close, not nearly as many people as you see at one of our large air shows,” Atieh says. “So, it should be very easy to get in and out and park and come and go, you don’t have to stay for the whole thing obviously.”
Tickets can be purchased online for $20, but kids under 12 can get in for free. There are also VIP tickets available for Saturday for $70. The competition runs from 9am to 3pm on Saturday.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.