46 In Flig ht USACelebrating 3 4 Years De ce mber 2017By David Tulis, AOPA
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cien ce, te chnology, e nginee ring,
and ma th (S TEM) av iatio n co n-
cep ts e ng aged McKin ne y Hi gh
Sc hoo l ni nt h-g rader s in liv ely dialo gu e as
the y hudd led i n a T ex as clas sro om to
deter min e which turn -o f-the-century av i-
at ion p ioneer first at tained powered fl igh t
- Orvill e and Wilbur Wrig ht o r Gu st ave
Alb in W hi teh ead. “I ’m g oin g with the
Wri ght Br ot hers,” declared stud ent Aryn
Esmair, w ho considered bu t q ui ck ly d is-
misse d W hi teh ead’ s c laim to hav e flo wn
a bo dy- shi ft-cont rol led s team -p owered
ai rc raf t a bout 25 f ee t before it crash ed
int o a Pi ttsbu rg h build ing in 1 899.
Th e banter be tween av iat ion t each er
Nath an Mc Af ee a nd his st uden ts was fran k
but i nfor ma tive a s they di scu ssed the pro s
and cons of a lesson asso ci at ed wi th AOP A
High Sc hool A vi ati on S TEM curri cul um.
Th e s tudents in M cKi nney , a Da llas sub -
urb, we re part of 29 hig h sc ho ol s fie ld te st -
ing t he ni nth-gr ade ST EM lesson p lan s
acro ss the Unit ed Stat es.
Mc Afee , who attend ed the AOPA
High S ch ool Av iati on S TEM Sy m p osium ,
in Fo rt W ort h, Te xa s, No v. 6 and 7, said he
was “ve ry impre sse d” with th e curric ulum.
He not ed t ha t stu den ts w ere en gag ed a s
th ey learn ed critical STEM skills tha t
co uld le ad so me i nt o an a viation o r ae ro -
space c ar ee r. “ I w as en er gize d by the sym -
pos ium,” McA fee add ed, “an d I’m exc ite d
ab out wh ere our p rogra m i s hea ded .”
He ex pl ai ne d th at “ flying is gre at bu t
for ev er y pe rso n fl ying there are p rob ably
40 oth ers who are hel pi ng to support
them” i n other av iation-relate d fie lds.
Bra nn a Bar ro ws, a s oph omore in
McAfe e’s class who se fath er fl ies a
Ci rrus, sai d she enjoyed the exp eri en ce of
learn ing avi at ion concepts in a fu n an d
en ga ging m anner. O ther stu den ts were
imp re sse d w ith f iel d trip s to airpo rts that
inc lud ed a near by ai rs ho w.
AOP A re co gnizes t he impo rta nce of
gro wing the pilo t pop ulation a nd ha s pu t
sev er al pr ogr am s i n place to en su re a
robu st f uture fo r a viato rs. T he g oal o f
AOPA’s Yo u Ca n Fly H ig h Sc hoo l
Initiative i s to hel p b uild an d su stai n av ia-
tion S TEM pr og rams an d to p ro vid e a
qual ity wor kf orc e t o the av iation in dustry.
Ju ni or s and s en iors partici pating in
the p ub lic hi gh scho ol’ s avia tion a cad e-
my me et in a ha nga r a t M cK in ney
Natio na l Airpor t rather tha n at the schoo l
so t he y c an h ammer, ri vet, w ire , and
plumb aircraft du ring ha nds- on s essio ns
that k ee p t he m tinkeri ng w ell into the
afterno on and o n many we eke nds. A
four -yea r p rep ara tor y pr ogr am e nab les
them to also s tud y av iat ion h istor y a nd
caree rs, buil d an d fl y model air cra ft, ea rn
their stud ent pil ot cert ifica te, and mo re.
Pil ot an d m en to r Ch uck Wils on
pati entl y exp la in ed to e le ve nth- grade rs
how t hey co ul d d et ermin e wh ich s ide o f a
wing rib a ri vet sh ou ld be driv en into. A
Cess na 150 in desp erate ne ed of TL C pro-
vide d the b ack dr op a s six studen ts gath -
ered ar ou nd t he a luminu m s truc tures th at
wou ld on e d ay b ecom e airb orn e ag ain.
“We’ re t ryi ng t o just cre at e a se nse th at
these k ids can d o an yth ing ” th ey p ut th eir
hea rts int o, ex plained the air tran sp ort pilot
and ex per ienced a irc raf t build er. “T hey
don’t ha ve to be pi lots an d the y do n’t h av e
to b e m echa ni cs. Th e go al is to let them
under st and ther e’ s no lim its as to wh at they
cho ose t o do an d it’s really rewar din g to
give them t hat chan ce. ”
He sa id M cK inne y s tude nts p ursu -
ing a viation h ave a “grea t oppor tunit y”
beca use t he y c an t rai n in t he e cono mica l
two-per so n V an’ s A ircraft RV -12 tha t fe l-
low s tude nt s com plet ed ( unde r s uper vi -
sion) in 20 16 and th en f lew to EAA
AirVent ur e in O shkos h, Wisc onsi n. “It ’s
fabu lous [ for training] a nd a t very lit tle
cost to th em .”
Th e a ircraf t bu ild w as pa rtly f unde d
by the s tude nts t hemsel ve s an d w as con -
duc ted wi th m ento rs fr om t he Eagl e’s
Nest P ro jects. Wh en a se con d ai rcr af t
curr ently u nde r c onst ruction is c ompl ete ,the f irst R V-1 2 w ill be so ld to con tinue
fun ding t he pr ogr am. S tuden ts a cr oss t he
Uni ted States ha ve bu ilt 17 Ea gle ’s Nest
RV -12s w ith f our m ore unde r co nstr uc -
tion , a cc ordi ng to build er and men tor
Philli p C ampbe ll.
Gab ri el H at ton , a t hi rd-ye ar st ude nt
who “a lwa ys ki nd o f ha d a pas si on fo r mat h
and sc ienc e,” exp lai ned that h e v al ued t he
schoo l’s aviation pro gra m fo r tea ch ing him
a v ari ety o f s ki lls t hat e mp ow er ed h im to
pur su e his dre ams. “It told me that I ca n do
almost an yt hing I w ant t o do i f I pu t m y
mind i nto it.” H e a dv ise d y ounge r s tuden ts
inter es ted in a vi atio n to “ stic k wit h it
becau se it will pa y off .”
Stude nt Sean R os e als o h el ped co n-
struct t he bl ue- an d-w hite R V-1 2, a nd h e
lea rned a l ot abo ut himself in the p rocess –
thou gh h e was n’t too keen abo ut cer tai n
par ts o f t he fabr icat ion p ro ces s. Sh ap ing
the ai rcra ft’s fiberg las s p ieces “du ri ng 1 0-
hou r day s wh en sch ool was n’ t even in ses -
sion m ad e me all itch y an d i t was j ust
awf ul .” The se nior stu ck wi th it, tho ugh,
an d real ized t hat “ no thing i s imp ossi ble.
As a h igh s cho ol st uden t c om ing i n and
[h ear ing] peo pl e say that you are going to
bui ld an ai rp lan e, yo u kin d o f jus t t hink t o
you rsel f, ‘That ’s not going to hap pen .’ Bu t
now l ooking at the fin ish ed p ro duc t it’s
just i ncre dible t o s ee wh at we co uld al l
co me to get her an d achiev e.”
Rose an d cl as sm at e Bry an S oltys-
Niem an n pl an ned t o co ntinue t heir av ia-
tio n dreams to ge th er. They h av e b oth
ap plied to the s ame colleg es wi th hope s o f
bei ng r oo mmat es an d h elp ing each ot her
pur su e p ro fe ss ional av iation car eers.
“In midd le s choo l, I de ci ded tha t I
wa nted to b eco me a pil ot,” sa id Sol tys-
Nie man n, as he buffed th e lea din g e dge
of the a irc ra ft he he lped bu ild. “I had to
tak e at lea st the fi rst ye ar [ of a via tio n
cla sse s] to see how it’ d g o.” He en ded up
in t he r ight sea t of the RV-1 2 f or the six-
hour f light f rom Texa s t o O shko sh,
Wis cons in, a nd n oted tha t th e t rip ta ught
him a lot about rea l-w orl d av iat ion. A keytake aw ay w as l ear ning how to “ prep
ahe ad f or the ne xt airp ort an d the n decide
on a g o, no -go de cision” because the ne xt
airp ort mi ght not be in VFR con ditions.
Althoug h t here w er e s etback s a nd
frus tra tio ns t hat c ould rattle a ny aircraft
bui lde r, S olt ys-Niemann sa id p articipat-
ing i n the h igh s cho ol av iation p rog ram
was “definit ely a o ne- of-a-kind ex per i-
enc e an d one of t he best experi ences
you ’ll ever ha ve i f you put y our b est
eff ort int o it.”
He ad vised other hig h sc ho ol stu de nts
int er est ed in l earni ng a bo ut a viat ion to
“j ust kee p on tryi ng an d nev er give up.”
The You Ca n F ly p rog ram an d the
Air Sa fety Institu te are ent irely funde d by
charitable donations to the AOPA
Founda tio n, a 501 (c)(3) o rganization. To
be a part of the solution, visit
http://www.aopafoundation.org/donate. To
lear n mor e about AOPA, visit aopa.org.TEXAS TEA CHER, STUDE NT SPRAI SE AOPA AVIA TIONCURRICU LUM:
MCKINNEY HIGH SCHO OLCLAS SBUI LT VAN ’S AIRCRA FTRV-12
McK inney H igh S chool roboti cs teac he r
Natha n McA fee is he lping tes t the AOPA
High Sch ool Aviati on STE M cur ric ulu m
dur ing cl asses in Mc Kinn ey, Te xa s, Nov. 8.
(David Tulis)Mc Ki nne y High Sc hool stude nt s Bryan
Sol tys-Ni emann and Se an R os e clean a Van's
Aircraft RV- 12 the y he lpe d c onst ruc t duri ng
an av iation c lass at M cKi nne y Nat ional
Airpor t in McKinne y, Texas, Nov. 8.
(David Tulis)The Ai rc raf t O wne rs and Pilots
Assoc iati on (A OPA) h as released th e
rede signe d A OP A Pil ot Guides: B ahamas
and Ca ribb ean edi tio ns for 2018. T he
gu ide s, on sale now, are a t ru sted s ou rce
of fl ight pl anni ng i nform atio n fo r th e
islan ds for mor e t ha n 35 years.
Fea turi ng phot ogr ap hs of ev ery air -
po rt in the i sland s ( 61 i n th e B ah amas an d88 in the C ari bb ea n), the guide s pr ovide
runw ay an d na vi ga tion inf orma tion , cu s-
toms and im mig ration pr oce dure s, sur -
vival ti ps, and mo re.
You ’l l also be abl e to find hot el an d
recre ation p hon e n umb er s, inf orma tion
about the loca l c ul ture, the best w ay to
get a rou nd on th e is lan ds, a nd w hat the
food is like. Plus , read tip s and su gges -tions f rom o ther pilo ts ab out whe re t o
st ay and fun thing s to d o.
“A s a comp reh ensi ve resour ce f or
trave ler s a nd pi lots alik e, t hes e g uide s
ma ke i t ea sy to f ind e ver ything you ’d
nee d to know about fl ying to the
Bah ama s and the Car ibbea n,” said A OPA
Sen ior V ice P resident of M arke ting Jir i
Ma rou sek. “ AOP A s pent th e last yea rmaking improvements, so the guides
inclu de ev en more in for mation abou t air-
po rts a s well as r ecom mendation s on
pl ac es to eat , s leep , and play.”
The gui des c an a lso b e d own loa ded
as an app on iTunes for under $40.
On its we bs ite, A OP A also pro vi des
impor tan t l inks to for ms ne cessa ry w he nAO PA REL EA SE S2018 BAH AM AS, CAR IBBEAN GUIDES
Re de si gned, Com pr eh en si ve Pi lot Gu ides Now Availa ble
Co nt inued on Page 47