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Besides building our cowling, work
progresses on a lot of other fronts. We actually have three planes in
work; our first CH-701 (the yellow, upside down one), the CH-601XL (the
silver one behind Burt), and a second 701 (parts in a box). In order
to teach basic skills to beginning students, we started another 701.
We are also building the remaining parts for the 601.
Here, Burt finishes the 601 elevator trim tab. |
| Frank has been working on the flap handle bracket.
Mark Swalley, one of our mentors, designed a flap handle bracket for the 701
he is building from scratch. He lent us the plans and Frank is
building one for our 2nd 701. |
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One of the great things about this program is that it
stretches our skills. It would have been possible to cut a hole in the
tubing with a drill and file a slot. Our mentors took Frank in hand,
gave him a course in mill operation, and showed him the right (read easy,
fast, and precise) way to do the job.
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Our flap handle will be better and Frank will have these skills for life.
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Our project lives on donations and grants. The
American Institute for Aeronautics and
Astronautics gave us a $200 classroom grant to purchase an altitude
encoder. The encoder gives altitude information to the transponder
which transmits it to the air traffic controllers on the ground. If we
want to fly within 30 miles of large airports we must have one of these
instruments in the plane. |
| Our panel is coming along. |
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As is our 601-XL. Don Williams (in the blue shirt) is
our ace mentor on our 2nd plane. He is an amazing craftsman, an
innovator, and an excellent teacher. He teaches kids a lot, expects
them to retain and perform, and gets a lot from them. He shows us
cross-generational mentoring at its best. |
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