COVER STORY
Their Lives
Canby and Saline High Schools
the winners
Our Chairman Brad Mottier and Vice
Chairman Steve Taylor announced the winners — Canby High School in Canby, MN,
and Saline High School in Saline, MI — at
GAMA's spring board of directors meeting.
The design work these students did under
the direction of their teachers, Dan Lutgen
in Canby, MN, and Ed Redies in Saline, MI,
was first-rate. As their prize, four students,
a teacher, and a chaperone from each school
received an all-inclusive two-week trip
to Glasair Aviation in Arlington, WA, to
build two Sportsman aircraft through the
company's well-known Two Weeks to Taxi
program.
GAMA member companies and other
component sponsors generously
contributed financial resources,
equipment, and supplies to the
build, including the kit airframe,
propeller, certified avionics, parts,
paint, and interiors for one of the
planes. In addition, Glasair donated two weeks of staff time to support the build.
The winners had little idea what
was in store for them. Some had
never flown in an airplane before
they touched down in Washington
state. Others thought they would
simply watch the Glasair technicians assemble the airplanes.
Few realized that each day
would begin at 7 a.m. with a progress report on the build, along
with a lecture from Glasair's
Airframe & Powerplant (A&P;)
mechanics Ben Rauk or Ted Setzer
on a specific aspect of constructing
the plane, such as safety wiring
or repairing a composite structure. The students took the same
work breaks, cleaned the hangar
bay, and left for the day just as the
Glasair staff did, usually around
5:30 or 6 p.m.
Glasair Aviation
The experience was new for Glasair, too.
While the company typically helps a customer build a Sportsman — an experimental
metal and composite kit airplane that seats
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November/December 2013
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