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3 X RV-8's completed in one day

Introducing,
Flight Youth Engineering (Australia)

Although our primary mission is to engage with High School Students, a couple of months ago we tried a younger student group.

Meet Luke gr2, Lara gr1 and Alex gr3, students who love all things aviation and their 3 newly built RV-8's !

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The students, with the assistance of their mothers and mentors, had to first cut out all the metal pieces, file off the burrs and prepare the parts for riveting.

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At Flight Youth Engineering we pride ourselves in having a full industry relevant experience so we could not build an aircraft without treating all aircraft parts with a conversion coating to prevent corrosion of their newly built aircraft.

Parts ready for the Alodine Tanks

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The students had morning tea and watched on while their aircraft were treated by one on the mentors,

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Ready for assembly

Ready for assembly,

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And 5 pop rivets later,

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Of course building is only half the fun! To finish off the morning we jumped in the RV-10 for the students first flight experience :)

( Co-Pilot is another one of our students, Daniel is 15 and building his own RV-12IS with another FYE group build)

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Alex and Lara were very focused as we taxied but screemed with delight as we took off, I had to mute the rear seats so I could hear the pattern traffic.:D

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A wonderful morning spent with some delightful young students. To close out the morning, the students were given some hand outs that explained all the parts and workings of the aircraft they had just built.

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A special treat was to meet Bob Tait, owner of Bob Tait's Aviation Theory School. A living legend of Australian Aviation and a big supporter of FYE.

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The three completed aircraft have now flown many missions around the world as can only be seen be the amazing imagination of our youth.

Ready for the next mission..

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Thats really cool Ashley! Start them early, keep them interested. NO telling what they can accomplish!
Tom
 
Great post. Catch them young and getting them hooked early because aviation isn't cheap. :D

Our local EAA chapter has a similar program that teaches young people build and fly model airplane. With the end of the Covid pandemic, we are hoping to restart this program.
 
Another 2 x RV-8's Ready for adventures !

It was time for two young amazing ladies to build their first Aircraft!

Determined focus on the task at hand,

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Good early construction progress and great conversations about aircraft color schemes,

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And it wasn't long before another 2 x RV-8's were ready for their first flights,

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To all the worldwide VAF team a very Merry Christmas for all of us at Flight Youth Engineering (Australia)

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