Program Uses Abandoned Aircraft As Teaching Tools
It started when Jerre Hurst, director of the Morehouse Parish,
LA Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, asked
Steve Litchfield, Morehouse Memorial Airport (KBQP) manager, if
there were available aircraft that could be used to develop an
aviation program for young people with an interest in aviation.
It may end with a new Build A Plane program for that Bastrop, LA
parish -- that would bring together young people with adults with
particular skills and industry sponsors, including Build A Plane
Board of Director heavy-weights like Cessna, Cirrus, Textron
Lycoming and Exxon Mobil Oil.
Litchfield and Hurst will meet with Morehouse Parish School
Board representatives this week to see if there's interest in
offering the program to Bastrop High students, to those in adult
education programs, or even to junior high students.
Non-profit Build A Plane is "dedicated to promoting aviation and
aerospace careers by giving young people the opportunity to build
real airplanes." These projects, according to the organization's
Web site, provide real opportunities to motivate young people to
learn all facets of science, technology, engineering and
mathematics applied to the program.
With a formal partnership with the FAA, Build A Plane has 16
projects operating in the US and two more overseas. It hopes to
have 100 projects underway by the end of 2008.
KBQP's Litchfield said the program would offer area students
exposure to a field that is far reaching.
"What have we got here for them?" Litchfield asked.
"International Paper may or may not be here in a year, and if it
closes, then all the related industries will close as well. This
would be a chance to learn a skill that could become a well-paying
career for them. It's a good program for everyone who's involved in
it."
A Monroe, LA dentist is considering donating his abandoned
airplane for what could become the cornerstone of that Build A
Plane program, Litchfield told the Bastrop Daily Enterprise.
The 1966 Cessna 150G owned by Dr. William Gordon is just one of
four abandoned planes at the airport. City attorney Doug Lawrence
is in the process of informing two owners listed on the FAA's Web
site that the city is in the process of declaring the property
abandoned and taking possession of them.
In Gordon's case, he's willing to donate the plane to the city
for use in a program "dedicated to promoting aviation and aerospace
careers by giving young people the opportunity to build real
airplanes."
In recalling his conversation with Gordon, Litchfield said "he
didn't know it (his plane) was still down here. Jerre and I were
passing the phone back and forth ... and Jerre asked if he'd be
interested in donating it to the city for use in the program. He
said he'd need to check with his attorney, but he sounded like he
was interested."