Two teams of students participated in Glasair’s “Two Weeks to Taxi” fast build program, and the aircraft they helped produce were on display at Oshkosh AirVenture last week. During a ceremony at the Jeppesen tent, most of the students were introduced along with their teachers.
After the two-week initial build period was completed, further assembly is necessary for the Glasair Sportsman four-place sport plane to be made airworthy. Jeppesen CEO Mark Van Tine worked side by side with some of the students and several Jeppesen volunteers to finish that phase in two more weeks. And Van Tine had good reason to keep his hand in the project. He flew the Sportsman to Oshkosh to go on display, and the airplane will become a part of Jeppesen’s community outreach program.
The project was co-sponsored by Glasair, Build A Plane and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Build A Plane executive director Katrina Bradshaw said, “Build A Plane gives students who are interested in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] career fields a chance to apply their knowledge from the classroom to assemble an aircraft from the ground up.”
At next year’s AirVenture Oshkosh event, Build A Plane will participate in a project to complete a Zenith Aircraft CH 750 kitplane in about 160 hours’ building time. Visitors to the Zenith display will be invited to pull one of the 7,000 rivets that go into constructing the airplane.
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