Be a Mentor as part of this exciting new partnership now being developed between FlyQuest and a local school district’s Career Technical/Vocational Education Program!
We are looking for aviation‑minded and technically experienced men and women to guide high school students as they learn and apply the skills needed to build an FAA‑certified Van’s RV‑12 light sport aircraft. We are ready to answer the many questions you may have as you consider whether this opportunity is right for you. Let’s use the 5Ws to get straight to the important information:
FlyQuest is currently in discussions with several school districts in the Huntsville/Madison County area to host this ground-breaking aviation training program.
FlyQuest has also partnered with the national non-profit corporation Tango Flight, Inc. for professional logistical, technical, and programmatic support for this RV-12 aircraft build project. Tango Flight is currently supporting approximately 50 such projects in high schools across the United States. Tango Flight provides a complete aircraft kit; a turn-key academic curriculum; an aircraft build plan (modified to allow multiple build teams to work simultaneously); tools; workshop setup guidance; project management; instructor and mentor training; quality assurance oversight; and FAA coordination for aircraft certification.
As a local non-profit youth STEM education organization, FlyQuest, is providing funding and volunteer administrative and logistical support for this program. FlyQuest is also leading the effort to recruit volunteer mentors for this project. FlyQuest will provide the names and credentials of qualified applicants to the school district administrators, who will select mentors. All selectees will undergo the standard background check required by the Alabama State Department of Education.
Up to forty 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade students may be involved in this inaugural class, which is slated to start in Fall 2027. Class sessions will alternate between the academic curriculum in the classroom (taught by the school district instructor) and hands-on building sessions in the workshop, overseen by the mentors. When in the workshop, students will usually work in teams of 3-4, with 3-5 teams working simultaneously. Ideally, one mentor will supervise one workshop student team, although doubling up may sometimes be needed.
Shop mentors arrive before the students to prepare the work area per the instructor's daily directions, teach and demonstrate the construction skills to their student teams, and then supervise the students as they apply the skills to actual aircraft construction. Shop mentors also provide workmanship quality assurance and ensure the students learn and follow standard shop standards for safety, cleanliness, tool usage and control, foreign object/debris (FOD) elimination, etc.
Mentors also serve as role models and counselors to the students, especially in teaching one of the most important life lessons in today’s technological world: the necessity for good teamwork and productive collaboration. In a project this large, one teacher can’t do it all; the instructor will need the dedicated and experienced help of each mentor.
The program will run during regular school hours, on regular school instruction days, beginning in fall 2027. At this time, no after-hours, weekend, or school holiday operations are anticipated. Mentor/Instructor training will be held over 2-3 days during summer 2027. Tango Flight staff will provide the training in Huntsville, including constructing an actual airplane part (the vertical stabilizer). The program will begin with the start of the fall semester in early August 2027.
Volunteers are asked to participate, on average, at least one-half school day per week. If you can do more, so much the better. We recognize that many volunteers have job and family commitments that this effort must fit around. As volunteers ourselves, we understand that schedule flexibility is essential, that unplanned absences and personal schedule changes will occur, and we plan to staff accordingly.
Where:
Decisions are still pending on which local area school district that will start their program in 2027.
Visit TangoFlight.com to see the impressive results being achieved by high-schoolers across the country. By building a real airplane to strict FAA certification standards, our students will learn not only about science, technology, and engineering as possible careers, but also about working productively within a team toward a common goal, the satisfaction of meeting challenging goals, and the weight of responsibility for the safety of future crew and passengers of the plane they help build.
In addition, it is our objective to partner with Calhoun Community College’s Aviation Technology Program to offer dual-credit to our high-school RV-12 builders, giving them a head start toward obtaining their FAA Aircraft & Powerplant Mechanic certificates, should they choose to pursue them.
How:
The aircraft will be built strictly to Van’s factory specifications and certificated as an Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (ELSA). The goal is to complete an aircraft every two years, although extensions are occasionally required. These schedules include moving the completed subassemblies to a nearby airport for final assembly and testing. Airworthiness inspections and first flights will be accomplished by Tango Flight staff. After completion of the required test flights (and, with parental permission, orientation flights for the high school builders!), Tango Flight will sell the aircraft and use the proceeds to buy the next kit for the school district, thereby funding the next class of students.
The Next Step - Are YOU ready to help?
If you’ve decided you would like to volunteer, please click on “Apply to be a Mentor” and fill out the application. If you have additional questions, please email us! Questions specific to this program partnership can be addressed to mentors@flyquest.org.
Be A Mentor