Program Uses Abandoned Aircraft As Teaching Tools

It started when Jerre Hurst, director of the Morehouse Parish, LA Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, asked Steve Litchfield, Morehouse Memorial Airport (KBQP) manager, if there were available aircraft that could be used to develop an aviation program for young people with an interest in aviation.

It may end with a new Build A Plane program for that Bastrop, LA parish -- that would bring together young people with adults with particular skills and industry sponsors, including Build A Plane Board of Director heavy-weights like Cessna, Cirrus, Textron Lycoming and Exxon Mobil Oil.

Litchfield and Hurst will meet with Morehouse Parish School Board representatives this week to see if there's interest in offering the program to Bastrop High students, to those in adult education programs, or even to junior high students.

Non-profit Build A Plane is "dedicated to promoting aviation and aerospace careers by giving young people the opportunity to build real airplanes." These projects, according to the organization's Web site, provide real opportunities to motivate young people to learn all facets of science, technology, engineering and mathematics applied to the program.

With a formal partnership with the FAA, Build A Plane has 16 projects operating in the US and two more overseas. It hopes to have 100 projects underway by the end of 2008.

KBQP's Litchfield said the program would offer area students exposure to a field that is far reaching.

"What have we got here for them?" Litchfield asked. "International Paper may or may not be here in a year, and if it closes, then all the related industries will close as well. This would be a chance to learn a skill that could become a well-paying career for them. It's a good program for everyone who's involved in it."

A Monroe, LA dentist is considering donating his abandoned airplane for what could become the cornerstone of that Build A Plane program, Litchfield told the Bastrop Daily Enterprise.

The 1966 Cessna 150G owned by Dr. William Gordon is just one of four abandoned planes at the airport. City attorney Doug Lawrence is in the process of informing two owners listed on the FAA's Web site that the city is in the process of declaring the property abandoned and taking possession of them.

In Gordon's case, he's willing to donate the plane to the city for use in a program "dedicated to promoting aviation and aerospace careers by giving young people the opportunity to build real airplanes."

In recalling his conversation with Gordon, Litchfield said "he didn't know it (his plane) was still down here. Jerre and I were passing the phone back and forth ... and Jerre asked if he'd be interested in donating it to the city for use in the program. He said he'd need to check with his attorney, but he sounded like he was interested."

FMI: http://buildaplane.org, www.bastroplouisiana.com