The Best Flight of My Life: How I Found My Passion for Aviation

By Leeanna Hauch

Imagine you’re a sophomore in high school with the Wisconsin summer only 2 ½ months away, and then, soon after, you will be a junior, only 2 years from graduation! However, you only have a rough idea of what you want out of life with no rhyme or rhythm for what you are doing at the current time. Then, as you are walking through the halls during your passing period, you spot a poster about a program that catches your eye. The poster is for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program that is held at your school and teaches students how to build and fly an airplane! It piques your curiosity, so you follow the instructions on the flier and attend the informational meeting with your parents. You find yourself standing next to an RV-12. The plane looks great, and the program sounds interesting, so you ask for an application and submit the application. Several days, and one 15-minute interview later, POOF! you’re now a part of the Westosha Central High School STEM Aviation program. You’re also going on a three-day glamping trip with a group of parents and kids you don’t know on your way to Oshkosh, WI, for the EAA AirVenture airshow in July.

Well, that is exactly how I became a WCHS Stem Aviation program member! Since then, a few more important events have occurred. I transferred, became a junior at Union Grove High School, and stayed with the program. We have started to build our fourth RV-12!

Fun fact: the four planes were named Falcon One -in honor of the school’s mascot- F2 Talon, F3 Tiercel, and now F4 Raptor.

So, what is the WCHS STEM Aviation program, and why are you even reading this article? Well, as for the what question, it shall be answered throughout the article, and, as for why you wanted to read it, I shall leave it to you. (After all, not all who wander are lost, and not all who are lost are wandering.)

The Westosha Central high school aviation program, located in Salem, WI, originally ran under the umbrella of Eagle’s Nest, which originated in League City, Texas. James Senft, the program director, brought it to Westosha Central high school, completely new and starting from scratch. The mission of the WCHS aviation program is to get more young people involved in the realm of aviation since it can seem quite intimidating, especially flying on one’s own. I know for me, it certainly was; I did not know much about aviation, but my curiosity and interest were raised.

The aviation program can be divided into two main parts: building the RV-12 and Ground School. The RV-12 is a two-seater, low-wing aircraft classified as a light sport aircraft used for light-performance flying. About sixteen of us, usually working in groups of four or five, work on a different aircraft component at any given time. When building, we use several types of tools, both manual and air powered. The tools used most frequently are deburring tools, Cleco fasteners, temporary rivets, a rivet gun, a screwdriver, and a hot airgun, to name a few. Working with these various types of tools gives us a glimpse of what is involved in building and maintaining a plane like this one.

The second part is Ground School. It runs for sixteen weeks on Tuesdays for three hours and covers the fundamentals of aviation theory and practice. The curriculum covers weather, navigation, communication, aircraft systems, aerodynamics, and many more areas essential to becoming a safe and knowledgeable pilot. After completing the course, students take the FAA written test and must achieve 70% or higher to pass and start flight training. Once passed, they will need at least 40 total flight hours: 20 hours with the instructor, ten hours of solo, and the other ten can be either one. By the end of the training, an FAA flight examiner will conduct both a flight and oral exam, testing the student’s ability to navigate and handle an emergency, such as engine failure or loss of communication, along with any other problems that may come up during a flight, determining whether the student has the skill needed to fly the plane safely. Students who pass all three exams will receive their private pilot certificate.

Initially, I mentioned being a junior at Union Grove high school. How am I able to participate in this program? I was at Westosha Central before transferring to Union Grove a few months ago. Thanks to the kindness of Mr. Senft, I was able to stay in the program and continue to grow my knowledge in aviation; I will be forever grateful to Mr. Senft for allowing me to stay. There are many reasons why I am thankful to remain in this program. First, I am grateful to be able to continue working and learning with my fellow aviation members. They feel more like family rather than just students that happen to be in the same program. I am also grateful for the many theoretical and practical skills I have learned and used inside and outside the program. The experiences, people, and knowledge I have gained from my time in the program have even helped me figure out what I want to do with my life after high school. If you couldn’t tell, my future will involve planes and aviation. I intend to study at Embry-Riddle Aerospace college in Florida and obtain a Ph.D. in aeronautical or aerospace engineering.

Finally, I am also grateful for my curiosity. This might sound odd, but my interest has driven me to do things and think of ideas for which many would call me crazy, but it has never led me down the wrong path. Had I not followed my sense of curiosity toward that poster I saw in the hall, I would be a very different person. All pilots should be curious.

I am still relatively new to the world of aviation, even though most of the men in my family have worked in the aviation field. This includes my father. He never talked about what he did, so I never gave aviation a second thought. But my interest was truly piqued after the EAA AirVenture airshow last July in Oshkosh, WI. I watched pilots do stunt tricks in the air while we all returned to the campsite for lunch from that afternoon’s show. I remember vividly how I was super nervous on the trip to Oshkosh because my knowledge of planes and the realm of aviation was little to none. Little did I realize that my worries were indeed for nothing. When we arrived at the campground, I had a chance to talk and interact with the other students. They were all fantastic and easy to get along with. Even now, when we all get together and work on the plane, I can always count on having a good chuckle or two over some random event or conversation that occurs.

A program this great does not appear out of thin air. As I mentioned before, in 2014, Mr. Senft brought the program from Texas, and for a time, it was initially funded by the original creator of the Eagle’s Nest projects. The initial funds were used to buy the first plane kits, and then students would build them. The completed plane was then sold, and the proceeds were used to purchase the kits for the subsequent aircraft. Many donations and grants also helped with the running of the program. However, the founder has recently retired, and Eagle’s Nest Wisconsin became its self-funding organization. So now, the club runs on its own through the funding of joining/entry fees, grants, and donations from organizations and fundraisers. Currently, to raise money, we are hosting sweepstakes with some rather exciting rewards! The sweepstakes are running from January 3rd of 2023, until September 8th, 2023, or will end sooner if 5,000 tickets are sold before then. The sweepstakes will have 3 winners with a chance to win the following: 1st place wins the 2018 Van’s RV-12 ULSA (this is the most recent plane built by some of the current and previous members) 2nd, place is an Axis 500 4x4 UTV, and 3rd place is a pair of Volt Alpha E-bikes or cash equivalents. All profits from the sweepstakes are put towards purchasing the rest of our kits for the RV-12s, hangar costs, and everything else a program like this needs to run smoothly. If you want to know more about the sweepstakes event, go to www. falconaviation.org/the-cockpit/ sweepstakes.

(This will also take you to our websites, where you can find more information on the program, sweepstakes, and contact information.)

So, the next time you see a peculiar-looking flier or poster in your school hallway, you may look closer instead of walking away, because it may send you on the best flight of your life!