Build A Plane Securing the Future of Aviation, One Plane at a Time

Build A Plane, with the help of the FAA and the aviation community, offers young people with an interest in flying the chance to build airplanes and build STEM skills.

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BAP Founder Interview with AeroNews.net

Please follow this link to hear AeroNews.net's Sun 'n Fun interview with Lyn Freeman, founder of Build A Plane.

 

Build A Plane’s Most Unusual Project: Aba, Nigeria!

Riverside, California, April 18th, 2007—Build A Plane, which promotes aviation education by giving kids a chance to build real airplanes, is celebrating the completion of a unique project in Aba, Nigeria on the African Continent. The story of this particular project is worth telling.

Two years ago, 17-year-old Kasarachi “Kasa” Ejimofor contacted Build A Plane after a satellite dish was installed in his village that allowed him to watch television programs about aviation. He had been in love with anything that flew as long as he could remember, and this sudden exposure to the variety of aviation programs available on TV was all it took to bring him to a critical moment in his life: He designed his own airplane.

Watching the passion for aviation in their young son, Kasa’s parents encouraged him to leave the village and travel to Aba, a large city in southeastern Nigeria. He would stay with his step-sister and brother-in-law and look for opportunities to do something about his love for airplanes. His inquiry about finding some help in building the airplane he designed was posted on homebuiltairplane.com and someone there referred Kasa to Build A Plane.

What better mentors could Kasa have than two brothers from the United States who also started building their own airplane designs when they were young, Alan and Dale Klapmeier? When Build A Plane asked if them if their company, Cirrus Design, would be interested in helping this young man in Nigeria, there was not a moment’s hesitation.

Building the airplane went slowly and was fraught with difficulties, an experience that the Klapmeiers might tell you is inherent in the process. But some of Kasa’s problems along the way were not the norm; he watched his brother-in-law get gunned down in a robbery, and though Kasa quickly borrowed a car and drove him two hours to the nearest clinic, it was not in time to save his life. Now his adopted family had no income, no money for food.

“But I decided to continue working on the project because I loved the airplane, I love aviation and I knew it was part of my future,” Kasa says now. The principal at his school, C. G. Onuoha, encouraged him and the other kids who were helping Kasa build his airplane to look at everything that happened as opportunities to grow and learn.

“Their Build A Plane project built the spirit of facing challenges and hard work,” Onuoha said.

Kasa and his friends from school continued. They learned to weld the components of the airframe, they learned to work with fiberglass, they scavenged for parts and materials. When problems stopped them temporarily, they had to figure out a solution. They were building an airplane of their own design, from scratch, without any instructions. When it came time to finally cover the wings and fuselage in fabric, they did find some help via the Internet from Jon Goldenbaum, owner of Poly Fiber at the historic Flabob Airport in California, and a trustee at the Thomas Wathen Foundation. Finally, two years after Kasa had sketched his idea to build a plane, he and his team of young aircraft builders stood in the dirt area at their school, a completed aircraft in front of them. It was a joyfully sad moment; they had finished what many had told them was impossible and yet… the project was over.

“Building this airplane changed the lives of all participants,” principal Onuoha said. “They learned to solve problems in their academic endavors.”

“Every aspect of the project is related to mathematics, engineering and science. I now have a renewed interest in all those areas,” said Peter Joseph, on the smiling kids.

“I’ve always wanted to be an electrical engineer,” Chibuzo E. Uzoka remarked. “Now this project has clearly shown the importance of math and science as needed in all engineering fields.”

“I learned the basic dynamics and principles of flight. I now have a better understanding of how aircrafts work, and I’d love to build another one!” said Obinwanne Paul Ogbaka.

For Kasa, looking at his completed aircraft was more than a dream-come-true. “I want to thank Cirrus and Build A Plane because this project has highlighted my whole life. I wish more young people around the world the same opportunity.”

For Kasarachi Ejimofor, his project is over, but we’d like to help him continue his experience and support his remarkable dedication to aviation. Build A Plane is now looking for a scholarship for Kasa to come to the United States and continue his studies in aviation engineering. Want to help? What a great ending to this story that would be.

 

Build A Plane Featured in Delta Sky Magazine

ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON in a hangar at Compton/Woodley Field in Southern California, a dozen teenagers, some wielding power tools, others paintbrushes, are busy near the wingless, tailless fuselage of a Vision airplane. The young teens, many of them from the gang-plagued streets of Compton, are working on a lofty dream: taking over the building of this recently acquired, partially completed, home-built two-seater and actually flying it.

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Build A Plane & FAA Team Up for Projects in Remote Alaskan Villages

Riverside, California, April 18, 2007—Build A Plane, the Thomas W. Wathen Foundation and the Federal Aviation Administration announced the start of a series of aircraft construction projects aimed at teaching aviation skills to young people in remote Alaskan villages. The first program is scheduled to begin next month in Hooper Bay, Alaska, where students will build and then fly a Thorp T-211 to earn Light Sport Repairman and Sport Pilot certificates.

“You can’t imagine what a dream come true this is for us!” said Hooper Bay High School teacher and pilot Grant Funk. “Our village is more than 90% Yu’pik Eskimo and is 500 miles from the nearest road. Almost everything we do here involves aviation.”

“We’ll begin the building process right away,” Funk said. “Next fall I’ll teach a Sport Pilot ground school so that when the airplane is completed we’ll have the ground school already finished. And as soon as the airplane is certified and ready to roll, we’ll teach them to fly it.” Grant Funk is also a certified flight instructor.

This project is a direct result of the partnership agreement signed last year between Build A Plane and the FAA’s Aviation and Space Education Program. Build A Plane will work with the Hooper Bay High School group to provide additional aviation vocational opportunities. The National Center for Aircraft Technician Training coupled with the Aircraft Electronics Association is offering a course in repair and installation of avionics. Additionally, the Parametric Technology Corporation is preparing to donate $1.5 million dollars worth of 3D computer-aided design software.

The Thorpe E-LSA T-211 aircraft is being donated by Dr. Ram Pattisapu, founder and CEO of IndUS Aviation which operates out of Dallas, Texas and Bangalore, India. “It’s a huge privilege for our aircraft to be part of a program like this,” Pattisapu said. “IndUS has been a big supporter of Build A Plane since the project began several years ago and I hope more of the aviation and aerospace community will step up and get involved. This is the kind of thing we need to be doing.”

Federal Express has agreed to pick up the Thorp T-211 aircraft components from India and fly them all the way to Anchorage, Alaska at no charge. Arrangement are underway to transport the 6 boxes of aircraft part the rest of the way to Hooper Bay..

Build A Plane has donated dozens of aircraft to groups interested in using real airplanes to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Next month representatives from NASA, the FAA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, the Thomas Wathen Foundation and others will begin a Build A Plane project to create low or no-cost aviation curricula for grades K-12.###

 

Build A Plane Signs Formal Partnership with the FAA

Non-profit group joins forces with the federal government to educate young people about science, technology, engineering and mathematics by building real airplanes.

Washington, D.C., Build A Plane, a nonprofit organization promoting youth aviation education, signed a formal partnership agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey welcomed Build A Plane’s founder, Lyn Freeman, for the formal ceremony on June 12th in the nation’s capital.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to blend Build A Plane’s goal of putting more aviation into schools with the FAA’s National Aviation & Space Education programs. We’re very, very excited about this new partnership!” Freeman said.

Build A Plane solicits donations of real aircraft from a number of sources, then redirects those airplanes to schools across the country. Currently, there are 20 projects underway in the United States, plus others in India and Nigeria. The aircraft are used as projects to motivate young people to learn science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Additionally, Build A Plane is developing a variety of aviation-themed, STEM-based curricula, including a course that will enable students to design, build and test fly aircraft “virtually” on classroom computers.

Shelia M. Bauer, the FAA’s National Aviation & Space Education Program Manager, further explained that the partnership will foster cooperation and collaboration to promote aviation and aerospace careers as a viable option to America’s youth. These efforts will provide career progression awareness and opportunities for students, in accordance with Order 1250.2 “Aviation and Space Education Outreach Program,” January 2005.

Build A Plane began as a simple idea: High school kids, who already have the opportunity to take courses in auto mechanics or woodworking, could also benefit from selecting a course that worked on real airplanes. The idea was first revealed in Plane & Pilot magazine, and almost immediately, people made all kinds of donations, from homebuilt kit planes to certified aircraft. Donors get a charitable tax credit, and Build A Plane helps move the plane to schools that have expressed interest in the program.

The overwhelming response to the Build A Plane idea also brought strong support from the general-aviation industry. Cessna CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton immediately joined Build A Plane’s advisory board, as did Cirrus Design Chairman and CEO Alan Klapmeier. Other notables on the board include aerobatics champion Patty Wagstaff, CNN news anchor Miles O’Brien, Vice President and General Manager of Textron Lycoming Ian Walsh and the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Vice President of Education, Dr. Lee Siudzinksi. ####