Tucked inside a hangar at Three Wing Aviation at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, a two-seat Van’s RV-12 built by Bassick High School students awaits its final hurdle before it can take to the skies.
The plane was transported in June to the airport with an escort provided by the Bridgeport Police Department. It is currently awaiting certification from a Federal Aviation Administration inspector before Bassick students will be able to fly in it as passengers. School officials hope that milestone will happen before the end of the school year.
It’s not the first time Bassick students have built an aircraft. Three years ago students completed the school’s first airplane through the Tango Flight STEM program. That aircraft was certified and is actively flying, making Bridgeport the only city in the nation with a student-built airplane currently in the air, according to Tango Flight.
Bassick is among dozens of schools across the nation participating in such a program that combines classroom instruction in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with hands-on aircraft construction. Students spend three days in the classroom and two days building an airplane alongside industry mentors.
Students worked closely with employees from Three Wing Aviation, a fixed-base operator at Sikorsky Memorial Airport, to build the aircraft. The Van’s RV-12 comes in a kit by Van’s Aircraft in Aurora, Oregon. It’s a team effort to assemble the aircraft’s parts. A team of five to six volunteer mentors, including Air Force veteran and pilot Paul Zielinski and retired engineer and pilot Dave Maas, guided students through the complex process.
Zielinski said the program strives to go beyond teaching kids about aviation and aircraft building. “Students may not end up being interested in aviation, and that’s great,” Zielinski said. “It means we are opening their eyes to other possibilities. But it is nice to come together on something people are interested in.”
Building an airplane from a kit presents challenges, especially for students with varying levels of experience, mentors said. The assembly manuals can be difficult to interpret, making mentorship a critical part of the program.
“They have this rather unique experience that can open the door to many other things,” Maas said.
The experience and knowledge from the first build show their results. Bassick students shaved a full year off their build time, finishing the second plane in just two years.
The aircraft is set to begin its flight testing phase in the first few weeks of August. Students continuing on the aircraft-building journey will start work on a third plane kit already this fall.
