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Mon, Jul 26, 2010

Exploring Their Future

Building On A Dream

By Dan Billingsley

Imagine being back in high school with an interest in aviation and not really knowing where to plug in. You go out to the airport, kick around watching the planes come and go and it is hard to know where to start. How can a kid get a break to build on a dream when things cost so much? Many kids just need a little help to point them in a direction which could be a life-changing experience. This is where Michael den Hartog and Phil Benedetto stepped into the lives of 15 Boy Scouts in Birmingham, AL.


(L-R) Jeffery Manien, Nick Hiros

Hartog and Benedetto had been looking for a way they could connect youth with aviation. They found the format they were looking for with the BSA Aviation Explorers and started post 491. In June 2009, the Post was donated a Kitfox III kit by Cypress Aviation and they were off and running. The Aviation Explorers were either invited to join or there was an application process, as there is a strict aviation curriculum to be followed. Each phase of the building had its own expert who would coach, instruct and inspect the student work. As you can imagine, this provided a high level of quality control. Their plan of attack was to work on weekends at an average of 17 hours between Saturday and Sunday. The plane was completed in 9 months.

Jeffrey Mannien, age 15, and 18-year-old Nick Hiros are two of the Scouts that came to AirVenture. Their purpose for being here is to raise enough funds to "keep the project alive". They are taking varied donation amounts which give the donator an opportunity to win the completed plane. When asked what their favorite part of the build was, both said the fabric covering as well as rib-stitching the wings. Mannien plans to pursue a career in commercial aviation and Hiros enters college this fall to begin a degree in Aerospace Engineering.


Kitfox III

We all know the future history of aviation dwells in the youth of today. For these 15 kids, their dreams have started to gel and their futures are now a little more defined.

FMI: www.ae491.org

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