Frankfort High Aviation Academy

We now have our first round of flight jackets with the new patch design. I think it looks nice.  If you need to have it stitched, I will find some vendors that will do this for us. The school patch will go on the upper left side of the jacket.

On Saturday, December 19th, we will have the first Frankfort Aviation Education Foundation Board meeting. In this meeting, we will discuss the following:

1. Determine a name for the foundation
2. Select the board
3. Review process for creation of foundation
4. Albert Ueltschi Aviation Education Center
5. Fundraising
6. Frequency and future meeting dates

Here are some dates on the horizon:  Jan 6th - UK Mechanical Engineering Trip, Jan 9th - Humana Tour in Louisville, Feb 19th - SkillsUSA Aviation Competition at Shawnee HS in Louisville.

Here is a yearbook photo that demonstrated Frankfort High School’s rich aviation history in the Forties. Sixty years later, our students are studying some of the same concepts that these 1947 students grappled with some time ago.

Students are working on various parts of the annual inspection of the Cessna 152 under the direction of Larry Mooney, our aircraft inspector. Since the airplane came from Florida, corrosion is an issue. Students are learning how to inspect and perform basic maintenance on a more modern airframe.

In this picture, Chris and Coty remove the upper and lower cowling so that they can look over the exhaust, ignition, fuel, and cooling systems.

Our students are having a great time at Airventure 2009. They are exhibiting and showing their work in the BuildAPlane/GAMA booth. Students are learning about aircraft fabric covering, welding techniques and networking with many interesting aviators. Yesterday, we met with Harrison Ford, the director of the Young Eagles program. He is also an actor. ; )

We will be at Airventure until Sunday. It has been a great experience for our students. Our students will have some fun and informative stories to share when we return.

We have 6 students and 2 teachers that will be exhibiting at Airventure 2009 this year. We plan to take both Aeroncas: the Chief and the Tandem Trainer. Our partners at Airventure will be the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and Build a Plane. Our students will learn through numerous hands-on workshops, witness aircraft design from experimental and antique aircraft manufacturers, and network with other students and aviation professionals. We are looking forward to this exciting opportunity.

Location: Capital City Airport, Hangar #43
Date: Saturday, May 30th
Time: 10 am – 2 pm

This event will showcase the Frankfort High School Aviation Academy’s work at the Capital City Airport this year. Three airplanes will be on display including two pre-war 1940 Aeronca Taildraggers and a Cessna 152. There will be plenty of food, drinks and items on our silent auction (some items include a Tandem Skydiving Jump from Skydive Kentucky, flight for three to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, and a registration to Airventure, the largest air show and exhibit in the world). Please come out and support our students.

Here is a video of our 1940 Aeronca Chief making its first taxi.

Here is the video of the Channel 36 story about our aviation program. Check it out!

The Aeronca Chief started for the first time on Saturday. We definitely have a magneto issue. They will have to be sent out and rebuilt before the airplane is considered airworthy. Our students learned about ignition systems, removal/installation of a magneto, and engine/mag timing. After running the engine, we removed the mags and prepared them for shipping to Cincinnati for maintenance. It was exciting to see the engine running. If you would like to contribute to our magneto rebuild, please contact me at tim.smith@frankfort.kyschools.us

We will resume the work on our two Aeronca airplanes on Saturday, May 9th at 8 am. On the Chief, we hope to install the magnetos with the correct timing so that it can be started. The work on the Tandem Trainer will focus on joining the two halves of the fuselage with rosette welds.