Aviation Museum of NH begins search for next school to start student plane-building program
LONDONDERRY, NH — It’s a case of opportunity knocking. Or actually, opportunity landing.
The Aviation Museum of NH is launching a search for the next school to host its innovative high school student plane-building program.
Begun in 2019 in partnership with the Manchester School of Technology, the program gives young people the opportunity to build a real flyable airplane.
Working alongside volunteer mentors, students assemble a two-seat all-metal aircraft as part of a credit-earning course. The completed airplane is then sold on the open market, with proceeds used to pay for the school’s next aircraft build.
Following the success of the program in Manchester, the non-profit Aviation Museum established similar programs at Lebanon High School in 2024 and Farmington High School in 2025. Under the program, about 50 students are currently building aircraft as part of their high school classwork.
The museum is now seeking a fourth district ready to add “Airplane-Building” to its course line-up for the 2027-28 school year.
The plane-build program is open to any educational institution enrolling students of high school age, including public, private, charter, and parochial schools.
“We’re looking for a school ready to embrace this innovative partnership, with its potential to change students’ lives,” said Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H.
The plane-building program is open to schools located anywhere in New Hampshire, or in Massachusetts in Essex or Middlesex counties.
The program is offered at no direct cost to local taxpayers. The Aviation Museum of N.H. will commit to raising start-up funds of $320,000 needed to launch the plane-building program, after which it will be self-funding.
The Aviation Museum will also supply a team of trained adult mentors with backgrounds in the aviation or aerospace industries to work alongside the students.
“Our volunteers often bring decades of experience to the workshop, and form a crucial part of the plane-building program,” Rapsis said.
A partner in the venture is Tango Flight, Inc., a Texas-based educational non-profit specializing in student plane-build programs.
Tango Flight provides accredited curriculum to support the program, plus carries liability insurance covering the program and the aircraft itself.
Interested districts are asked to submit a proposal to be considered. A copy of the Request for Proposals may be downloaded online at www.aviationmuseumofnh.org. Proposals are due by Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Under normal circumstances, students are expected to take a minimum of two school years to complete an aircraft.
“In Manchester, it actually took students three years to finish the first aircraft, but that was in part because the pandemic shut down schools for nearly a year,” Rapsis said.
The Manchester program has since completed a second plane, which is due for FAA certification this summer; the school has already started building its third aircraft. The programs in Lebanon and Farmington are both working on their first aircraft.
Approximately 100 students have participated in the program to date; of those, about half have either pursued aerospace-related education programs, taken jobs in aviation, or joined the military.
Although students build the airplane, they do not fly it. Under FAA regulations, only licensed and properly qualified pilots can fly the aircraft, which will be a Sling 2 produced by the Sling Aircraft Co. of Torrance, Calif.
The first aircraft built by Manchester students received its FAA airworthiness certificate in August 2022. The airplane has since been flown to local STEM-education events and as far away as an educational conference in Orlando, Fla.
In July 2023, the aircraft was flown to the annual AirVenture Fly-In in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—the world’s largest gathering of airplanes—where it was on exhibit as an example of a student-built aircraft.
Traveling as a passenger to Oshkosh in the student-built plane was one of the students who built it.
Samantha DiMino, a Manchester School of Technology graduate, participated in the plane-build program for during her sophomore and junior years.
Dimino, who had no special interest in aviation prior to the plane-build, now serves as an avionics technician in the U.S. Air Force.
“Sam’s experience is a great example of how the student plane-building program can make a real difference in a young person’s life,” Rapsis said.
The Aviation Museum, a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization based in the 1937 Art Deco passenger terminal at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, is dedicated to preserving the Granite State’s rich aviation past, and also inspiring today’s students to become the aviation pioneers of tomorrow.
For more information, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call (603) 669-4820. Follow the Aviation Museum on social media at www.facebook.com/nhahs.