Classroom to Cockpit: Local students gain hands-on experience building aircraft

AFTON, Okla. — Northeast Oklahoma high school students may be building the next aircraft you’ll fly in.

Five students at Northeast Tech’s Afton campus have been working to build a two-seat airplane this semester. Another 15 will join them next semester.

The project was made possible through a partnership with Tango Flight, a national nonprofit helping high school students build FAA-compliant planes. The plane comes in kits, with students responsible for assembling the frame, final shaping of some of the metalwork, and installing things like the fuel system and electronics.

This plane is expected to take them about two and a half years to finish. While the school did have to front a down payment, they’ll get that money back when the project is finished. Upon completion, staff with Tango will inspect and fly the plane before it is sold. While it does give the students real-world experience in things local manufacturers do every day, it’s also helping them make decisions about their future.

"For the longest time, I thought I was going to major in computer sciences, and then I came out here, we started working on the plane, I realized this was a lot more fun, so now I’m going to go into aerospace instead," said Reagan Rudd, a third-year senior at Ketchum High School.

"It’s also, to me, a great metaphor for life, because when this first came in, we were all really overwhelmed by just the sheer quantity of parts, and it was all new. And just like life, you learn how to break it down a little bit at a time. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can reach out to somebody, and then they get new skills, and it’s great real-life experience for them," said Trishia Masterson, Northeast Oklahoma Tech Afton Campus STEM Academy instructor.

By the way, Rudd plans to attend Oklahoma State University after high school, dual majoring in aerospace and mechanical engineering.