Cameron Montemayor
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Longtime pilot Julius Rice remembers growing up as close to the seat of an aircraft as a kid possibly could, with photos as an infant sitting in an airplane evidence to back it up.
“My dad and my grandpa always had airplanes. So I grew up around airplanes,” said Rice, manager of Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph and deputy chief of staff with the Missouri Air National Guard’s 139th Airlift Wing.
The spark for Rice’s aviation career, though, would come just a few years later: an elementary school field trip to the Air National Guard’s 138th Fighter Wing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of the country’s premier units for tactical fighter planes.
“That’s the earliest memory of me going ‘I want to be in aviation,'” he said. “Those field trips with the young kids, that’s pretty important.”
Organized field trips to Rosecrans Memorial Airport and the 139th Airlift Wing are now a point of pride for Rice as a staple of their community engagement efforts that have taken off in recent years with an infusion of new events, technology and opportunities to take to the skies and enter the field of aviation.
Coupled with the success of flight leaders like Lute Atieh and his FlyTech Pilot Academy, launched in 2024, the two are expanding St. Joseph’s footprint in aviation and boosting efforts to inspire new generations to pursue careers.
Rosecrans Memorial Airport Manager Julius Rice, left, and FlyTech Pilot Academy co-founder Lute Atieh speak at the new Rosecrans terminal building in July in St. Joseph.
“I was like, well, let’s try flight school and see how that goes. And that went wildly well and very quickly,” Atieh said. “We’ve been really fortunate on the flight school side of things.”
While his earliest airplane memories may not date back as far as Rice’s, Atieh’s passion for flight and supporting careers in aviation has been just as unwavering, including working alongside Rice to put on the award-winning Sound of Speed airshows, winner of Best Airshow in 2021 and 2024 courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
Now, the focus has been supporting long-held and beloved airshow events — next scheduled for 2026 — with new opportunities that continue the buzz of aviation.
“We have such a great airport. I don’t think a lot of people here realize it. We’re in a unique situation and we want to share that and make this accessible and available,” he said. “It’s an exciting time.”
With more than $35 million in widespread infrastructure upgrades over the last several years, including a new terminal building, runway and air traffic control tower nearing completion, the 86-year-old Rosecrans Memorial Airport is transforming from an aging and outdated facility to a state-of-the-art complex ripe for more opportunities.
Rice and Atieh successfully organized a first-of-its-kind aviation event for St. Joseph this June in the Pony Express STOL (short takeoff and landing), a competitive series where STOL aircraft orchestrate difficult and precise landings and takeoffs on shorter runways. The inaugural event drew strong crowds and pilots from a variety of age groups.
A large crowd of people watches aircraft perform in the Pony Express STOL at Rosecrans Memorial Airport this summer in St. Joseph.
“The more people you can get out here using the airport, the more activity, the more planes, the more pilots. That’s something that’s important,” he said.
Rice said a wealth of opportunities currently exist for an aviation career, some becoming available as early as high school and after graduation, while others can pursue more advanced degrees.
With critical staffing needs in the aviation industry only heightened by recent U.S. aviation disasters, from air traffic controllers to pilots and critical positions like mechanics and electricians, Rice and Atieh understand the importance of renewed interest in the success of the industry long-term, both for the public and private sectors.
“If we don’t go out and actively pursue the next generation of aviation enthusiasts, they’re not going to exist,” Rice said. “Across the board in aviation, there’s a shortfall in people.”
New flight simulator technology at Hillyard Technical Center offers another immersive layer to St. Joseph’s aviation scene, a particularly valuable tool for young aspiring aviators with little flight experience.
Atieh credited the St. Joseph School District with helping support efforts to engage students in aviation, including a new aviation maintenance program in the works at Hillyard.
“You’ve got the next wave of this electronic vertical takeoff and landing. It’s huge,” Atieh said. “One day, I think all of us hope to attract that type of a manufacturer out here. We’ve got plenty of land, plenty of space, lots of great workforce. And so that’s the long-term goal.”
In the short term, Rice and Atieh are focused on the upcoming International Council of Airshows in December, part of the 2026 Sound of Speed Airshow planning process that could reveal which jet teams come to St. Joseph.
With high-level airshows and aviation events often coming with costly price tags, Rice and Atieh said support from the community and sponsors like Sunshine Electric, Altec and Mosaic Life Care, among many others, continues to make the events a possibility for the community.
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