Our Crew
Shade Tree Micro Aviations Crew is made up of painters, designers, real pilots, and technical experts.

Jim McNeill

Jim McNeill, Papa Mac to his friends, is the owner of Papa Mac Enterprises (PME) and is the primary flight model and 3D panel guy. He has been flying for over 48 years and when he is not hunched over a computer in the design shop he can be found teaching his grandkids to fly in the family Cessna 182, which is featured as an X-Plane model, or is busy flying other peoples airplanes and helicopters. Shannon will not let him near a texture for good reason.... A four year-old with crayons can draw better than he does.

Kerry Cross

Kerry Cross, Forty-three years under the belt as a designer of many persuasions. Originally an automotive industrial designer with GM Holden in Melbourne Australia for 13 years, then got involved in both 2D and 3D computer graphics in the eighties and have operated my graphic design company using computer technology ever since. After seeing a flight simulator on a Silicon Graphics machine back then, I became totally hooked on flight sims, then discovered X-Plane in 2005. Mostly involved in the graphics side and developing new aircraft skins for STMA at this stage, but will venture into 3D modelling when more time permits. Spare time is for my kids, family and friend and the end of the day, X-Planing through the virtual skies.

Bob Feaver

Bob is well known on X-Plane sites as "Blue Side Up, Bob" and he has been with us from 2007. He's our resident plug-in expert, having authored such unique creations as ChaseViewDeluxe external view and camera platform and HangarOps which animates hangar doors and allows you to push back and turn your airplane around. Bob is the author of the unique animated pilot and passenger figures that appear in all STMA models. His favourite projects combine custom animations with plugins to create classic instruments like the Earth Inductor Compass found in the Southern Cross. When not applying his X-Plane skills he is busy with his family, playing stand-up bass, and enjoying the outdoor life at his lake-side home north of Toronto.

Mark Roberts

Our Webmaster is Mark Roberts. He is the one that keeps the site up and hopefully all the links working. Complain to him if you find anything not working correctly. Mark retired from the US Army in 2007 with 22 years of service. He hangs his hat in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Todd Denning

Todd introduced himself to us as a volunteer consultant to the Husky project and decided to join in for other projects. He is a CFII/MEI, holder of an Airline Transport Pilot rating, and a USPA D-license Expert parachutist. He is involved professionally in education and simulation training and backcountry/mountain flight training. When not teaching in his real Husky he works on a wide range of projects we hope to bring to the STMA line. Look for them in the near future!

Benjamin Whitehead

I fell in love with aviation at age 11 in Anchorage Alaska, where I grew up. I managed to spend as much time with pilots as possible, becoming close friends with the son of ERA Alaska's chief pilot, thereby scoring some great check out rides on various helicopters on the weekends. My dream of entering the Air-Force and becoming a pilot were stalled when my vision degraded to less than perfect, so I turned to the study of aeronautics and electrical engineering. I learned CAD and 3D modeling as a part of the engineering curriculum, and found a way to work as a part-time designer to work my way through school. I am currently a professional software/hardware engineer developing storage solutions, specifically Solid State Disk Drives, or SSDs. If your computer can load X-Plane in four seconds, you probably have one. I discovered X-Plane in 2008, having been an MSFS guy before then, and promptly discovered plugin writing. With that, the dream of working in aviation was suddenly reborn for me, and I've been happily writing plugins since then.