It’s opportunity knocking. Or in this case, opportunity landing. The Aviation Museum of N.H. is launching a search for the next school to host its innovative high school student plane-building program.
Started in partnership with the Manchester (N.H.) School of Technology in 2019, the program gives young people the opportunity to build a real flyable airplane. Working alongside volunteer mentors, high school students assemble a two-seat all-metal Van’s RV-12iS, a popular kit-based light sport aircraft. The finished plane is then sold on the open market, with proceeds used to pay for the school’s next aircraft build.
With the success of the Manchester program, the non-profit Aviation Museum is now seeking a second district ready to add “Airplane Building” to its course offerings in the 2024-25 school year. The plane-build program is open to any educational institution enrolling students of high school age, including public, private, charter, and parochial schools.
“We’re looking for the right school ready to embrace this innovative hands-on program, which has the potential to change students’ lives,” said Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H.
The program is open to schools located in New Hampshire south of the White Mountains, or in Massachusetts in Essex or Middlesex counties. The program is offered at no direct cost to local taxpayers. The Aviation Museum of N.H. will commit to raising start-up funds of $210,000 needed to launch the plane-building program, after which it will be self-funding.
The Aviation Museum will also supply a team of trained adult mentors with backgrounds in the aviation or aerospace industries. “Our volunteers often bring decades of experience to the workshop and form a crucial part of the plane-building program,” Rapsis said.
A partner in the venture is Tango Flight, Inc., a Texas-based educational non-profit specializing in student plane-build programs. Tango Flight provides accredited curriculum to support the program, plus carries liability insurance covering the program and the aircraft itself.
In addition to the students themselves, school districts are asked to supply suitable workshop space, and also use federal grant funds to cover the program’s curriculum costs.
Interested districts must submit a proposal to be considered. A copy of the Request for Proposals may be downloaded online at www.aviationmuseumofnh.org. Proposals are due by Friday, Nov. 17, 2023.
Under normal circumstances, students are expected to take a minimum of two school years to complete an aircraft. “In Manchester, it actually took students three years to finish the first aircraft, but that was because the pandemic shut down schools for nearly a year,” Rapsis said. Although students build the airplane, they do not fly it. Under FAA regulations, only licensed and properly qualified pilots can fly the RV-12iS or any other aircraft.
The first RV-12iS built by Manchester students was completed and received its FAA airworthiness certificate in August 2022. The airplane has since been flown to local STEM-education events and as far away as an educational conference in Orlando, Fla.
In July 2023, the aircraft was flown to the annual AirVenture Fly-In in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—the world’s largest gathering of airplanes—where it was exhibited as an example of a student-built aircraft. Traveling as a passenger to Oshkosh in the student-built plane was one of the students who built it. Samantha DiMino, a recent Manchester School of Technology graduate, participated in the plane-build program during her sophomore and junior years. “Sam,” who had no special interest in aviation prior to the plane-build, is now close to earning her private pilot’s license, and recently enrolled in the U.S. Air Force. “Sam’s experience is a great example of how the student plane-building program can make a real difference in a young person’s life,” Rapsis said.
The first completed aircraft will be on public display on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Manchester School District’s “CelebratED” education fair on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Veterans Park in downtown Manchester. The first completed aircraft is expected to be sold in spring of 2024. Students in the Manchester plane-build program are currently assembling their second RV-12iS.
The Aviation Museum, a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization based in the 1937 Art Deco passenger terminal at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, is dedicated to preserving the Granite State’s rich aviation past, and also inspiring today’s students to become the aviation pioneers of tomorrow.
For more information, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call (603) 669-4820. Follow the Aviation Museum on social media at www.facebook.com/nhahs.