Two Thousand AirVenture Attendees Participated In Building The Wings In Project Give Flight

Five sets of wings were built to completion in a single week during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015, thanks to the help of more than 2,000 participants who stopped by the project Give Flight tent to set rivets and join in the fun.

“I felt it was a great way to open people’s eyes to the concept of building an aircraft. It also allowed us to shine a light on our chapter network,” said Charlie Becker, EAA director of chapters, communities, and homebuilt community manager.

The Give Flight project was developed to encourage chapters to start their own build projects, with five of EAA’s chapters across North America each receiving a set of finished wings. Many members of those chapters also stopped by to pull a rivet, Becker said.

Multiple volunteer teams worked on the construction of the wing panels all week, ensuring that the project would be completed on time.

Becker said he was extremely impressed with the RV-12 build team, an all-teen build team led by 18-year-old Justin Inman.

“They completed the RV-12 wings in three days without the help of any adults,” Becker said. “These kids were amazing! They worked hard and stayed focused on the goal.” Becker extended thanks to kit manufacturers Zenith, Sonex, and Van’s Aircraft for their generous donation of the wing kits, and to Aircraft Spruce for additional support of the project.

The Van’s RV-12 wings were sent to Chapter 27 of Meriden, CT, and Chapter 555 of Las Cruces, NM received wings for a Sonex Waiex.

Three sets of wings were donated by Zenith, with 750 Cruzer wings being sent to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Chapter 245, and Bolingbrook, IL Chapter 461. The CH 650 wings were sent to Chapter 84 of Snohomish, WA.

On top of the challenge of building five sets of wings in a week, Becker mentioned an additional challenge: “Now the chapters have the challenge of completing the rest aircraft and bringing it back for AirVenture Oshkosh 2017!”

(Image furnished by EAA. Justin Inman, center, led an all-teen team to build a set of RV-12 wings for project Give Flight)

FMI: www.eaa.org