Bassick Students Could Build a Plane This Fall

BRIDGEPORT — A dozen or more students at Bassick High School this fall may get to do more than get under the hood of a car in the school’s auto shop.

They may get to build an airplane.

With a green light this week from the city school board’s Teaching and Learning Committee, the full board will consider authorizing a contract with a Texas Company called Tango Flight on Monday.

Tango would provide the school with the do-it-yourself kit for the ready-to-fly two-seat, single engine RV-12 plane and the help of up to a dozen mentors, district officials say.

Acting Schools Superintendent Michael Testani told the committee that all the funding would come from outside sources, not the cash-strapped district.

“This is an awesome opportunity to engage our extremely talented students in learning that goes beyond the classroom,” Testani said. “This program teaches across all disciplines and it exposes students to so many potential career pathways.”

A copy of the proposed contract was not immediately released by the district and Aaron Hollander of Tango said a company statement would not be released for another week. Bassick, however, has been welcomed to the program on the Tango Flight website.

Testani said he was approached several months ago by Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona about becoming the first district in the state to work with Tango.

Cardona called the Tango Flight program an engaging and exciting educational experience that could help open doors and possibilities for Bassick students to Connecticut’s thriving aerospace industry and beyond.

“The end goal of our work to evolve college and career pathways that meet the needs of the state’s economy is to ensure that students have access to the most rewarding opportunities and happiness after graduation,” Cardona said, when asked about the offer.

Tango is a five-year-old non-profit that operates high school plane-build programs in several states, according to its website. Already, high school students in Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Alabama and New Hampshire are working with the organization.

“School kids will work with an instructor ... to build a functioning airplane,” Testani said. They would also learn about careers associated with aviation.

Bassick is home to an automotive shop and already partners with Housatonic Community College in an advanced manufacturing program.

The school is also being rebuilt on a yet-to-be-determined location. The new Bassick is to have classroom spaces devoted to manufacturing, automotive, culinary, performing arts and medical instruction.

Bassick Principal Joe Raiola said the plan is to start the program in the fall, assuming in-person classes resume. A bay of the school’s existing auto-shop is being cleared out to build the plane, which comes in kit form.

The daily class would be led by automotive teacher Stephen Blume, supplemented by up to a dozen mentors from places like Sikorsky Aircraft and Pratt and Whitney. The experts will oversee the assembly, do quality control inspections to make sure everything is put together correctly.

Once the plane is complete, it is sold by Tango, with the proceeds funding the next kit.

This would not be the first unusual thing built in a city classroom. For several years, students at the Bridgeport Aquaculture School, an interdistrict high school, have built 8-foot long cocktail-class racing boats that are then raced through Captains Cove.

Board member Joseph Lombard asked if a plane would fit into the automotive shop.

He was told the Bassick space was one of the reasons it was chosen for the program.

The plane is assembled in pieces between the wing and fuselage, then bolted together at the end.

Raiola said the plane will take one, perhaps two school years to complete. He expects the project will pique the interest of more than the dozen students assigned to the class when they see a plane taking shape in the auto shop.

“I am sure there will be a lot of questions,” Raiola said.

[email protected]; twitter/lclambeck

———

Visit the Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Conn.) at www.ctpost.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.