School to build an aircraft.

[G-CPTN]

BBC News - North East Wolverhampton Academy students build a plane (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-24481888)

[tecman]

A great initiative. Coincidentally, I was just reading the literacy/numeracy scores amongst young (and not so young) adults in the UK, Australia etc and I think that projects like this can only help address our collective deficiencies in science, engineering, maths and technology. In a lot of the western world we are now at least two generations into a science teacher stream with (too often) little or no real competence, or real interest, in the field. Projects like this one warm the heart. Success is certainly possible. I noticed a local school in Perth has built and flown a very nice looking RV6A.

See: http://www.kentstreetshs.wa.edu.au/Documents/Document%20Library/Prospectus/Aviation%20Prospectus.pdf

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

It gives a reason for all that boring stuff you have to learn at school. There’s the whole collection of core subjects that can be fitted in to an aviation context. Actually building an aircraft just becomes a force multiplier in the equation.

At a fly-in earlier this year a gentleman who was involved with the project told me that the above mentioned Boeing / RAeS – Build a Plane Challenge had chosen the Rans S6 because of my aircraft. According to the Light Aircraft Association ‘WK is the highest hours home-built aircraft in the country, so they felt comfortable with it as a choice for the schools to build. They did say they had problems due to the rules on age and experience of getting people to fly the completed aircraft. I’m hoping to get the call at some stage to do some flying for them.

[dubbleyew eight]

in australia DO NOT build an aeroplane as a school.

the wankers in casa make the project a disaster.

the local aviation college (kent street) built an rv6 as a group student effort.
turned out that the director general of education had to be the owner.
the kids who built it in class were not permitted to train in the aircraft they built. only one person could be nominated as the builder although there were dozens of kids all working together to build it.

eventually it was recognised that casa and the insurers had made the project a disaster and the aircraft was quietly sold. a disappointment to all.

dont repeat the mistake.

[AberdeenAngus]

There was a Kitfox (I think) at the LAA show which had been built by a school.
Very nice it was too !

[treadigraph]

Excellent idea - wasn't there a school built aircraft in the news a year or two back?

Truro School built an Evans VP-2 around 1980 as a school project which I recall was exhibited at Farnborough. It was registered to thd Head Master (G-BTSC).

Around the time I left (1982), some of the techie guys at my school started building a canard aircraft as an A Level project under the new technology master. He'd designed it as a project while at Cranfield Institute of Technology. Not sure how far towards completion it got as Bruce the main pupil driving the project left the year after I did, but I recall seeing the components completed for the foreplane or a wing I think.

[tecman]

To manage expectations properly, you'd obviously want to check the legal situation for downstream training etc but the educational value of the build exercise remains very strong, regardless. While an RV6, for example, is "experimental" in Australia and probably comes with some mainstream flying training restrictions on that basis, there are some attractive RA-Aus options available these days if the aircraft is chosen appropriately. While being a big personal fan of RVs, I think some of the options mentioned in the UK posts are a better choice for ab initio training.

[MikeeB]

High Flying Project At Goole High School To Lift The Spirits (http://www.goolehighschool.org/2012/10/02/high-flying-project-at-goole-high-school-to-lift-the-spirits/)

[Dan Winterland]

It's currently being done in Hong Kong, an initiative from a Cathay Pilot.

Teen students in Hong Kong learn airplane building 101 | South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1075106/teen-students-hong-kong-learn-airplane-building-101)

[boswell bear]

The Spirit of Goole are now flying theirs and continuing to offer aviation related STEM in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

www.facebook.com/TheSpiritOfGoole/videos/1312100068845077/