Last summer, General Aviation Manufacturers Association president and CEO Pete Bunce worked elbow-to-elbow for two weeks with a group of high school students. They were assembling a Glasair Sportsman kit plane at the company’s Arlington, Washington, headquarters — under the “Two Weeks to Taxi” program. Now, as part of the 2014 program in cooperation with non-profit Build A Plane, he’s looking forward to returning in June for another round with a new group of students.
GAMA and Build A Plane choose the four high school students based on the Aviation Design Challenge, aimed at promoting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies. Teachers apply for a “Fly to Learn” kit that includes simulation software from X-Plane and an outline of the four- to six-week classroom curriculum aimed at developing a modified version of the Glasair Sportsman four-place kit. GAMA judges will decide on the winning team.
The four students, a teacher and a chaperone will then fly to Glasair in Arlington, where the staff will donate their time as well as the kit for the two-week session. Airfare, hotels and meals are covered, along with field trips to aviation attractions in the area.
To find out more, and to get an application, go to the GAMA website page linked here.
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GAMA also produced a video about the 2013 competition and build that can be viewed below.
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