Our speakers today were five dynamic students from Lebanosn High School. They were selected to participate in the Take Flight program at Lebanon High School.
Kyle Hines is a student pilot. He hopes he will have a career as pilot.
James Strout – James is a member of the Civil Air Patrol and has a long time interest in aviation. He hopes to work in a field related to aviation in the future.
Tomas Kennelly shared that this is a capstone to his high school education. He will be a senior next year. He will only be able to work hands on for one year, but believes this experience will help him to use all of the education he has learned to-date.
Solan O’Connor has alway had an interest in NASSA and Space Ex. He is excited to be a part of a program that will build the plane and will get to see it fly for the first time.
Rebecca Ball wants to be a naval aviator. She see this course as laying a foundation for all she will need to learn to excel as a Naval aviator. She is looking forward to working with community mentors.
Each student had about three minutes to tell us all about the program. This program will inspire students to work together on a complicated and demanding project. Hopefully, the experience will open pathways to careers in aviation and aerospace. It will be a project that instills pride.
Fourteen students from grades 10, 11 and 12 will help build the plane. As seniors graduate, new students will join the team. It will be a 2 period class that will earn each student three college level credits in math, science and engineering. The build will be done in partnership with the Aviation Museum of NH that is located at the Manchester Airport. A company, called Tango Flight, Inc. in New Mexico provides the kit for the build. Don Weyant the founder of Tango Flight, Inc. visited Lebanon High School on January 23rd, and will return in August to help orient mentors/volunteers who will be working with the students.
Don Weyant: Aviation is so integral to Dan Weyant’s life that he lives in an airpark outside Georgetown, Texas, with his wife Karen. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from North Carolina State University, he began his career as a software consultant specializing in user-interface design, he left the industry to start engineering programs in Austin high schools. Weyant flies an RV-9A that he and his wife built and a 1946 J-3 Cub that belonged to his grandfather. He is the co-founder of Tango Flight.
There are 40 schools in the United States doing plane builds in 2024/2025. Currently a 3-bay garage at Lebanon High School is being converted into the “classroom” where the build will take place.
The plane kit will contain 50,000 +/- parts. Once completed it will be a a two-seat RV-12iS light sport aircraft. A license pilot will be the person ground testing then taking the plane on its first flight once approved by the FAA. To-date, $213,000 has been raised for the build. The total cost will be $250,000. They are now actively seeking additional funds from the community for the build. The announce they have secured three very large donations. Jeanne Shaheen help secure $90,000, the Byrne Foundation has contributed $50,000 with another sizeable donation from the Couch Family Foundation. Bonnie Robinson, LHS Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment can be emailed at brobinson@sau88.net if you would like to be placed on a mailing list to get updated about the build.
Jeff Rapsis from the NH Aviation Museum, joined the group of students from LHS to share information about the Aviation Museum of NH and their role in the project. More info about the Aviation Museum of NH is provided in the read more link. He also provided free passes to the Aviation Museum of NH to everyone who was at the meeting today.
Click on the read more tab for additional information about Take Flight from the Aviation Museum of NH web page.
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