Students reaching great heights
When school teachers advise their students to aim high, it is not meant to be taken literally.
However, six students from Mercury Bay Area School are half way through 900 hours of building their first Vans RV 12 two- seater kit set valued at US$80,000.
From working on wiring, flaperons, exhaust and wheel fairings to learning the complex imperial system by the beginning of 2016, a second Mercury Bay Area School built plane will be ready for take-off.
Every Wednesday afternoon in Jim Evan’s shed adjacent to the Mercury Bay Aero Club, the students are broken down into pairs with a mentor from the the local community to work on a part of the plane; a fine example of inter-generational collaboration.
Licensed aircraft maintenance engineer Jim Evans, who leads the project, pitched the idea to the school late in 2011, he oversaw the first Vans RV-12 kit-set two seater aeroplane built in 2012 and 2013 by 9 MBAS students.
The success of the first plane project has led him to oversee the second, with the help of a team of enthusiastic and knowledgeable mentors along with MBAS staff George Fletcher and Patrick Pfister.
Fletcher said the students also get the opportunity to learn to fly under the instruction of mentor Alan Coubray.
‘‘Most importantly it’s about the students and the experience they get from this, from the previous plane build we had three students who went into the aviation sector. So the experience they get is amazing. How many other schools are building a functioning aeroplane?
Year 13 student Ryan Wheeler said he has been really enjoying the whole process and the biggest challenge has been understanding the plans.
There are plans for the plane to be flown down to the Wanaka War Birds Air Show at Easter next year.
The Mercury Bay Student Aviation Trust was set up to help finance the build and to subsidise flying fees for the students. A second restoration project on a Taylor-Coot amphibian aeroplane is also in the shed waiting to be completed.