The East Valley Aviation and Aerospace Alliance (EVAAA) has created the first East Valley Aviation and Aerospace Academy. The academy is a program created for community leaders interested in knowing more about the importance and impact of the aviation and aerospace industries in the East Valley.

Not many backyards feature a garage with a door large enough for a semitrailer to pass through. Then again, most backyards don’t have Piper Apache airplanes parked in them.

More than 40 experts in the aviation industry will participate in a symposium March 6 and 7 in the Chandler-Gilbert Community College Aviation Department at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

Seventeen-year-old Becca Moreno can’t get the keys to the family car — but she’s hoping to fly a plane solo in the spring. “Since I was a little girl, I’d always look up at the sky and say, ‘I want to do that,’ ” said Moreno, a senior at Mesa’s Mountain View High School who hopes to join the U.S. Navy next year.

Seventeen-year-old Becca Moreno can’t get the keys to the family car — but she’s hoping to fly a plane solo in the spring. “Since I was a little girl, I’d always look up at the sky and say, ‘I want to do that,’ ” said Moreno, a senior at Mesa’s Mountain View High School.

This weekend’s Chandler Airport Dayz will feature aircraft, classic cars, informational booths, vendors, food and live music Friday and Saturday at Chandler Municipal Airport. The event will be hosted by Chandler Air Service, a flight school located at 1675 E. Ryan Road.

The Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport will host Gateway Aviation Day on March 12, which is the first open house held there since 2008.

Young Allie Sedgwick, a junior high school student from Chandler, wants to follow her father's career path into the sky.

Eight times as many private or corporate planes are based at Scottsdale Airport than at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, so Phoenix-based Swift Aviation Group is setting up shop there, too.

A Tempe-based aircraft maintenance company has become a target for acquisition by an oil-rich Arab emirate that has been a focus of political concerns over national security.

Ken Wood’s love of flying spans several generations. The 25-year air veteran’s father and grandfather were aviators, and he has followed in their wake, working as a US Airways assistant chief pilot.

Ken Wood’s love of flying spans several generations. The 25-year air veteran’s father and grandfather were aviators, and he has followed in their wake, working as a US Airways assistant chief pilot.