(WACO, Texas) – As Midway High School prepares to honor its graduating seniors later this week, there was another milestone to celebrate.
The Midway ISD (Independent School District) Education Foundation hosted the Midway Tango Flight – First Flight Celebration on Wednesday, May 20, at the Col. James T. Connally Aerospace Center at Texas State Technical College’s Waco campus.
The event marked the completion of a small, two-person airplane built by students in the high school’s engineering career and technical education pathway. The airplane took two years to complete. While Midway students did the assembly work, Tango Flight owns the airplane, said Jess Wheeler, the school district’s director of college and career readiness.
TSTC’s role in the project was providing mentorship and tools for students to use.
“This isn’t a simulation,” said Heath Martin, associate provost of TSTC’s Waco campus. “This isn’t theoretical learning. This is real work with real standards, real accountability and real outcomes.”
While the plane was not flown, students still commemorated it not with a traditional aviation water salute, but with bubble guns. Students stood on each side of the airplane and sprayed bubbles, even hitting each other with them.
“What’s been most rewarding for me hasn’t just been watching the airplane come together, it’s been watching the students grow throughout the process,” said Bradley Gibson, who teaches engineering courses at Midway High School. “They learned how to solve problems when things didn’t go as planned. They learned how important details matter. They learned to work together under real expectations and real standards.”
Kannon Hendrickson, a senior, was one of the students taking the airplane from a concept to reality. He said he always liked engineering and wants to one day be an airline pilot.
Hendrickson said the easiest part of the project was pulling rivets, while working with the airplane’s Garmin system was the most difficult.
“I know the fundamentals of how the inside of an airplane is and will take those skills to use for piloting or with my family,” he said. “I will miss them (his classmates). It’s been a long ride, but I’m ready to move on.”
Andreea Roman, a junior, only worked for a year on the project but said it was a good experience building everything from scratch. She said students had good mentors to work with in learning to use the tools involved.
“It’s beautiful,” she said about the shiny airplane. “It has taken us so long getting here and it is great seeing our accomplishment.”
Roman said she will continue in the engineering pathway this fall, but will be part of a new aircraft that will also take two years to build.
Each student received a flight patch commemorating the project.
Wheeler said once the Federal Aviation Administration gives approval, the airplane will be flown to Texarkana and sold.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.