The Project    

    Project Schoolflight at CK Jr. High keeps getting more exciting.  On the last project day before the holiday break construction teams riveted the main and nose ribs to both wing spars.  Suddenly we have an airplane, or at least parts that really look like one.  The next steps will be to install the rear channels, the various fittings, construct the auxiliary fuel tanks, and skin the wings. 

    A building team of the size we have allows us to construct many parts at the same time.  While the wings are being built, other teams are fabricating individual pieces for the fuselage, flaperons, slats, and elevators.  Since the CH-701 is made of many individual aluminum pieces, builders may finish and store fittings, angles, doors, skins, etc. to be assembled later.  Mr. Smith is tracking part completion and assigning new parts to be built based on construction sequence and student abilities. 

    We have had 27 building sessions since 11 September.  There have been approximately 800 hours of student construction time and 320 hours of mentor assistance.  Regular attendance is generally 15-20 students per session with 4 - 11 mentors assisting. Students are learning a variety of skills. The first thing everyone must master is working to a specific tolerance.  The CH-701 is a simple and reasonably forgiving design but any inaccuracies can multiply.  The entire team understands that aviation is an area with stringent demands.  We have a sign posted reading: The laws of aerodynamics are unforgiving and the ground is hard.   Each piece of the aircraft is being made within 1mm of the design measurements.  Students are meeting this requirement with little trouble.  Of the 200 pieces constructed to date, fewer than 10 have had to be remade and 5 of those were the result of inadequate forming blocks. 

    The second group of skills to master is metalwork with hand tools; cutting with snips, flatfiling, drawfiling, deburring, and hand bending.  Each of the pieces that comprise the CH-701 starts as part of a large flat sheet of aluminum.  Students study the plans, make a full-sized paper template, choose the correct aluminum sheet, mark out the piece, check the measurements, cut out the piece, file to shape, deburr and smooth the edges, and drill any necessary holes. 

    A third group of skills includes using stationary metalworking tools.  Before this project, few of the students and only some of the mentors had used stationary shears, bending breaks, drill presses, and stationary sanders.  If necessity is the mother of invention it is also the impetus to learning new skills. 

    The most interesting new skill and the one almost unique to aircraft construction is riveting.  The CH-701 has two kinds of rivets: formed rivets and pop rivets.  The formed rivets are small, blunt, brad-like metal fasteners.  They are inserted into a hole through two or more thicknesses of aluminum and an air-driven rivet gun pounds the small end of the rivet into a flat shape, holding the aluminum together.  The pop rivets are like those sold in hardware stores but manufactured to aircraft standards.  The majority of the rivets in the airplane will be the pop rivets but the first to be installed were the driven rivets. 
  
    The wing spars are made of a long flat piece with two-angle section, one on the top and one on the bottom.  The angle sections are attached to the flat piece with driven rivets every inch.  Each rivet requires a driver handling the rivet gun and the bucker with a bucking bar to drive the rivet against.  We formed several of these teams and under the watchful eyes of the mentors, students riveted the wing spars together. 

Integrations 
    The most delightful part of the project are all the unexpected opportunities for other students to take part.  Design classes in the Art Department have been working on paint schemes for the aircraft, the Music Department is composing a triumphal processional for the gala roll out ceremonies, the Computer Department is constructing the aircraft in the CAD system, and next to become involved is the French Department!  We have found the web site of a high school in Remiremont, France that is building an airplane.  We are translating the information found on their site, and have proposed a correspondence. 

Flight 
    As part of the community involvement program of EAA Chapter 406, the members are offering ‘Young Eagle’ flights to the builders of the CKJH CH-701.  The EAA has set a goal of giving one million airplane rides to youth between the ages of 8 and 16 by the year 2003.  They are a third of the way to the goal.  Clark Coulter, the chapter’s Young Eagle Coordinator has offered to put builders in touch with a local pilot for a ride.  The winter weather will slow things down a bit as it becomes more difficult to find clear, dry days, but when the opportunity presents itself, airplanes will fly! 

    Robert Eskridge, a chapter member and Flight Instructor has an even better offer!  He will give a few of the most motivated students flight instruction during their ride.  The EAA Chapter will purchase logbooks and those students will be able to log their initial student flight. 

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