Aircraft Will Be Built By High School Aeronautics Students

Over the next two years, students at Norwalk High School in Corona (CA) will be earning credits toward graduation by helping build a Stolp Starduster. Aircraft Spruce & Specialty is contributing plans and all the materials needed to build a complete airframe for the famous aerobatic biplane. The project is under the direction of Tim Hanna, a CFII, who heads up Norwalk’s Aeronautics Academy for high school students.

Hanna had already established ground school courses for private pilot and instrument ratings. The school will now create courses in aircraft construction, to include welding, woodworking, fabric and painting. Separate courses will be established in avionics and powerplant maintenance.

The goal is to eventually cover all aspects of aviation including ground support, airport management, flight training, aircraft construction, as well as refurbishment and maintenance. Hanna’s desire is to provide opportunities for young people to become involved in aviation when they are still contemplating a possible career instead of already pursuing one.

"The aeronautics program at Norwalk High School is a very exciting, very positive development, said Aircraft Spruce President Jim Irwin. "Aircraft Spruce is pleased to support this visionary opportunity for young students. It’s our sincere hope that by providing an airframe kit to the aeronautics academy at Norwalk, they will continue to develop a full-fledged aeronautical program that hopefully, many other high schools in this country will emulate. The aeronautics program is a perfect compliment to EAA’s Young Eagles program. We applaud Tim Hanna for undertaking it and for drawing young people into aviation."

Noting that it was one of his students who set the aircraft construction program in motion with a phone call to editor Lyn Freeman, Tim Hanna said: "I feel like I’ve won the State Lottery. I had no idea that the student would move so quickly in response to an article he read and never would have believed that Aircraft Spruce would come forth so quickly. It provides us with a tremendous opportunity for expansion and the students, understandably, are thrilled and eager to get started."

In addition to the Aeronautics Academy embedded in the Norwalk High School curriculum, there are additional academies dealing with business and medical science.

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