WWI Student Project

The Aviation Institute of Maintenance trains thousands of eager students to become aircraft technicians at its eight campuses.  These budding aviation maintenance technicians are instructed and trained in all aspects of aircraft repair and maintenance.  This includes all types of engines, airframes, aircraft systems, instruments, welding, rigging, and every other aspect of aircraft maintenance.  However, since each class focuses on a single system, learning is often accomplished using training aids, instead of complete aircraft.  This allows different groups of students to study, and practice on individual components, without interfering with other classes studying different systems.  Unfortunately, something that the students rarely work on is a complete, airworthy, aircraft that they can see start up and take off into the sky.  This means that they miss the excitement of seeing the real results of their hard work and problem solving. 

We are going to try and change that in 2007.  This will be accomplished by having each of our individual campuses build an airplane.  The completed aircraft will demonstrate its capability by taking to the air.  This will be a team project where active students, under the guidance and oversight of their instructors, will perform most of the work.  The project will allow a group of students to demonstrate and improve the skills that they have been taught at their AIM campus.  Their work will begin as a committee to evaluate different aircraft designs and select one particular model that they will construct during current calendar year 2007. 

In order to increase the enthusiasm and excitement for such a project we will limit the aircraft design to full-scale replicas of aircraft that flew during the “War To End All Wars” (WWI).  In a few short years it, will be the hundred-year anniversary of the infamous conflict that greatly accelerated the design and use of airplanes. 

Each campus will select contemporary plans for a single-engine WWI aircraft.  The design, and construction budget will be submitted to the corporate offices for approval prior to beginning construction.  We can assume that modern engines will be used, but will be disguised by clever cowlings to closely resemble their wartime appearance.  Students will be able to work during their off time as volunteers to construct component sections for the assembly of such an airframe.  All the work will be supervised and overseen by a group of school instructors, who will also assist with the necessary FAA paperwork. 

The construction and flight of these aircraft will allow some of our more dedicated and enthusiastic students to gain valuable experience working on an airworthy aircraft.  They can develop a sense of the responsibility associated with work on a piloted airplane, rather than on a training aide.  We have selected WWI replica aircraft because there are plenty of proven replica plans available, they are relatively easy to construct with simple materials, and provide a high profile for school publicity.  New students being toured through the shop can be shown this airplane as an example of an ongoing school project that they might be able to also participate in. 

After completion of the aircraft, the necessary pre-flight and flight-testing will be accomplished at an airport near the school.  The aircraft will then be available for display at local recruiting events, and nearby air shows.  When all eight airplanes are completed, they (along with the primary group responsible for its construction) will be transported to our company airport (www.FighterFactory.com) in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  There, the aircraft will be reassembled and flown individually, and as a group, to demonstrate their capabilities. 

A team of independent judges will select one aircraft as the best overall.  That aircraft and its construction team will be awarded a trophy and a cash prize of One Hundred Thousand Dollars will be awarded to their school for equipment acquisitions.  All of the aircraft will remain in Virginia for permanent display, but will always be associated with the school and those dedicated students that built them during the early part of their aviation careers.