Take Flight

January 13, 2025

It's hard to believe, but we are half-way through the school year.

We thought we would use this newsletter to go back and outline the process of our Take Flight class that is new this year. We have learned so much!

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire put out an RFT to NH schools asking who might be interested in bringing the program to their schools. Our Superintendent, Amy Allen, had experience with the program in Manchester, NH, and encouraged us to apply. We were very pleased to be selected.
• We are funded through the generosity of the community and the tireless efforts of Jeff Rapsis and Leah Dearborn at the Aviation Museum.
• We are the second student plane-build in New Hampshire and the 38th nationwide.
• The idea was founded by Dan Weyant and others at Tango Flight in Texas, and they created a high school aviation curriculum to accompany the plane-build.
• An RV-12iS kit designed by Van's Aircraft arrived in August.
• Under the leadership of Amy Allen and Facilities Director John Kerber, a three-bay garage behind the LHS track was transformed into our workshop or hangar.
• Students applied and were interviewed, and 14 students from grades 9, 10, and 11 were selected for the first Take Flight class. (They are currently in grades 10-12.)

• The course is co-taught by Tom Moore and Bo Harwood with support from ELO Coordinator Christian McDonald and the LHS Administration.
• It would not be possible without a dedicated and professional group of mentors who donate their time every week. These community members are pilots, amateur plane-builders, Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanics, engineers, and others who are interested in flight and like kids.
• When the plane is completed, we will all go for a ride, and then it will be sold. The proceeds will be used to purchase the next kit for our future Take Flight students.

Transitions like these engender a bit of reflection, and I thought I would share the first semester's progress in this newsletter. Our students have been busy!

I would like to extend special thanks to mentors Dave Robinson and Andy Gelston for their help with this newsletter.

See you in the hangar,

Bonnie

LHS midterms are scheduled for January 21-24, so there will be no regular Take Flight classes that week. Mentors - you get a week off!

We hope to take our students on a field trip to the Lebanon Airport. This is in progress.

The poster below is in the hangar and referred to frequently. I have attempted to label the parts students have completed.

Craig Anthony and others at Tango Flight created the Aviation curriculum that accompanies the plane build. Each day, our students learn more about an aspect of building a plane, flying a plane, mechanics, maintenance, etc.

Tango Flight also created a three-tiered diagram to allow multiple groups to be working simultaneously. They are depicted in the top three rows below. The yellow and green sections are ancillary and can be done at any time. It is great when the parts come together as they have already done in E below.

Taking a closer look at the Initial/Training and Sheet Metal sections, you can see (by the green X's) that several have already been completed

A. Control Pedals

These foot pedals are used to steer the plane in the air and on the ground as well as brake it to a stop. They will be connected to the rudder with two cables when installed.

B. Tires

Students assembled the brake discs onto the hubs. They are part of the landing gear.

C. The Roll Bar and Cockpit Frame

You can see that it is currently held together with clecos prior to riveting. It will become the protective frame above the pilot and passenger and secures the rear of the canopy.

D. The Tail Cone

It connects the fuselage to the empennage (the tail and stabilator assembly). The left side belly skin and bulkhead rings seen here will soon be joined by side and top skins.

E. The Fuselage

This is the bottom of the fuselage, and the canopy will eventually form the top. Many sub-assemblies were built prior to coming together to form this important section of the plane. The photos below are from different angles.

F. The Rear Firewall

This bulkhead separates the cockpit from the engine compartment. It is made of stainless steel to protect the passengers from an engine fire, engine heat, and a leaky exhaust.

G. The Gas Tank

This has been sealed and pressure tested to make sure there are no leaks.

H. The Stabilator

This is a combination of a horizontal stabilizer and an elevator. It attaches to the tail and makes the

airplane ascend, descend, and fly level at a constant altitude.

I. The Vertical Stabilizer

This attaches to the tail to keep the plane flying straight, not skidding sideways.

This is also the part that our mentors built during their training with Dan Weyant in August. We had theirs wrapped with the school colors and logo, but we'll leave ours for the next owner of the plane to personalize.

J. The Seat Backs

These will be installed into the cockpit and will be more comfortable once the cushions are installed.

K. The AST - Anti-Servo Tab

These are trim tabs for the stabilator. They attach with long piano hinges to the gap in the back of the stabilator and are used to minimize the amount of force that is required of the pilot to move the stabilator.

L. The Rudder

This will attach to the back side of the vertical fin with two bolts, to steer the plane left and right. The blue areas are a plastic film that protects the aluminum from scratches and scuffs during assembly. It will be peeled off before the plane is test flown. All the parts made from aluminum sheet metal come with this protective coating, are preformed, and have most of their holes already drilled. We have to peel the plastic off, as needed, and check all the edges and holes for roughness, deburring as needed.

This was donated to us by the NH Aviation Museum, and we are proud to have it in our hangar. It honors Barbara D. Miles (1951-2024), pioneer female pilot, director of the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire when it was established in 2004, and co-author of "Flying Through Time," a history of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

We call it the hangar, and spending time here is a favorite part of every day at school. Visitors are welcome 9:15-11:00 Monday to Thursday and 9:30-11:00 on Friday. Reach out to me at brobinson@sau88.net to set up your visit.

More frequently, the hangar is filled with activity. Here are a few of today's photos. You will notice that in the last one, the group made the decision to lower the table for easier access to the fuselage.

We have a growing library - thanks for the donations! Also pictured below are our students' log books. Our teachers and mentors verify the hours our students contribute to the build at the end of every class.

8.25.24, 9.3.24, 9.11.24, 9.18.24, 10.1.24, 10.14.24, 10.29.24, 11.7.24, 11.21.24, 12.7.24, 12.19.24, 1.2.25, 1.13.25

As always, feel free to share this newsletter, introduce us to anyone who is interested and/or would like to contribute in any way, and let me know if you'd like stop by the hangar to see our students at work.