An airplane, built from the ground up by a group of high school students from Granbury, is ready to make its flight debut.
It's a Van's Aircraft RV12: A full-sized two seater built by a group of 24 students in Granbury High School's "Eagle's Nest" program. With professional supervision, the group started building around last Thanksgiving and finished around July 4.
"We've got extremely high-quality students in the program, and with great mentors, great oversight and quality control, it is just like it would have come off a show room floor," Granbury High School Aerospace instructor Marc Kark said.
The students started with just an instruction book, sheet metal and hundreds of parts. The finished product is fresh from the paint shop and it features all of the latest safety and state-of-the-art equipment, all installed by students.
"You're getting to learn how to build an airplane, and you're getting to know how to fly, and you're getting to learn the aerodynamics of an aircraft all in the same class," student Cash McKay said.
The plane will take off from Granbury Regional Airport at 9 a.m. Saturday and a second similar model plane is the works. Students started in September, and plan to have it ready to go by April.
We're told the "Eagles Nest" motto at Granbury High is "Mentors build the student, students build the aircraft."
