Student Teams Build First Phase of Five Kit Aircraft During AirVenture 2015
By Maxine Scheer
At the first kick-off event today at EAA AirVenture 2015, EAA Chairman Jack Pelton welcomed volunteers and the public to the Give Flight Pavilion, opposite the EAA Welcome Center. Over the next seven days, five teams of students, ranging in age from 16 to 22, will build five sets of wings to jump-start the completion of five kit-aircraft destined to five EAA chapters.
“EAA’s Give Flight program was created to show the world what can be achieved at the local level to produce an aircraft that is affordable to build and fly, and engages youth in the hands-on activities,” said Pelton.
Wings are being built for five aircraft that include two Zenith CH 750 Cruzers, one Zenith CH 650, a Vans RV-12 and a Sonex Waiex. Zenith Aircraft Company, Aircraft Spruce and Specialty, Sonex Aircraft LLC, and Van’s Aircraft are project sponsors who donated the wing kits, tools and supplies.
EAA’s Charlie Becker, director of chapters and home building, described how the Give Flight project evolved from the lesson’s learned from last year’s “One Week Wonder” project and the growing participation of student aircraft building projects. Becker noted that rather than building one aircraft to completion, five EAA chapters will get a jump-start on five aircraft they can complete, own and use to create an independent flying club that provides one of the most affordable ways for individuals to enjoy general aviation flying. EAA also published a guide to creating a flying club, available on EAA’s website.
The project goal is for the five chapters to fly the completed aircraft to AirVenture 2017. The EAA chapters will need to raise funding and volunteers to complete the aircraft.
Student aircraft builders are being supervised by volunteer EAA mentors, advisors, and ambassadors who come with years of aircraft building experience. ANN talked with a few volunteers.
Roger Munsterman is managing the tools for the project. Roger is a tool and die maker who retired from General Motors and has been involved with EAA since 1986.
Student mentors, such as Justin Inman (age 18) (pictured, left) and Aric Krause (age 22) (right), were inspired to pursue aviation careers. “The RV-12 is easy to build,” said Inman, who completed assembly of three aircraft as a member of Teen Flight, and is off to Oregon State in fall 2015. Krause started with model aircraft building, and also built RV-12s with Teen Flight. He’s working part-time at Boeing in Quality Assurance, and with Boeing’s financial support is pursuing a mechanical engineering degree.
EAA’s Becker encouraged AirVenture attendees to stop by and “pull rivets” on the wings, “we hope to show the public how easy it is to get started with building your own aircraft.”
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