STEM MARIN Academy
SAN MARIN HIGH SCHOOL, NOVATO
SAN MARIN HIGH SCHOOL, NOVATO
Pegasus Project:
building a VAN'S RV-12 LIGHT SPORT Aircraft
Project Overview
In 2016, members of Marin County’s Gnoss Field Community Association (GFCA) and the local Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter, realizing that many of the special personal skills and character traits necessary to living a productive and rewarding life are concentrated in the process of building an airplane, decided to offer to work with a local school to help young people develop those skills and traits. These traits include attributes such as dedication, personal discipline, relating small efforts to a larger goal, working well with others, leading where necessary, following where required, and always contributing ones individual best. Many of the personal skills are important too - following directions meticulously, working toward perfection, and some plain old manual skills such as the use of hand tools and reading and following complex instructions.
GFCA approached San Marin High School which agreed to test the Pegasus concept as part of their senior STEM engineering program, so Project Pegasus came to life in the second semester of the 2016-2017 school year. Funded entirely by donations from GFCA members and based in a storage room, the first of a series of kits that will eventually result in a Vans RV-12 airplane was purchased and delivered. Thanks to the mentoring of a group of experienced airplane builders from GFCA and our local EAA chapter, the students, working closely with their mentors, made significant progress that year toward what was beginning to look like part of an airplane which, when all kits have been completed, will result in the flying FAA certified airplane.
In the four years that have passed since then the students and their mentors have completed all the “tail feathers” (rudder, elevator, etc.), the wings, and the tail cone, and central fuselage area. As we push forward in 2020, we are getting into the detail additions to the fuselage - wiring, landing gear, tail feathers etc. Over those years Pegasus has touched the lives of more than 150 San Marin High School seniors, giving them opportunities to not only work on a “real” airplane, but to work on a website, identify and order necessary materials, design a work space, figure out necessary production steps and sequences of construction and raising funds.
With Pegasus’ emphasis on helping the students learn and grow, rather than the production of the airplane, we expect this first airplane to still take a matter of years to complete. However once completed, each student who has participated in its construction will have an opportunity to ride in it, after which it will be sold to finance the next GFCA/EAA/SMHS STEM project.
GFCA approached San Marin High School which agreed to test the Pegasus concept as part of their senior STEM engineering program, so Project Pegasus came to life in the second semester of the 2016-2017 school year. Funded entirely by donations from GFCA members and based in a storage room, the first of a series of kits that will eventually result in a Vans RV-12 airplane was purchased and delivered. Thanks to the mentoring of a group of experienced airplane builders from GFCA and our local EAA chapter, the students, working closely with their mentors, made significant progress that year toward what was beginning to look like part of an airplane which, when all kits have been completed, will result in the flying FAA certified airplane.
In the four years that have passed since then the students and their mentors have completed all the “tail feathers” (rudder, elevator, etc.), the wings, and the tail cone, and central fuselage area. As we push forward in 2020, we are getting into the detail additions to the fuselage - wiring, landing gear, tail feathers etc. Over those years Pegasus has touched the lives of more than 150 San Marin High School seniors, giving them opportunities to not only work on a “real” airplane, but to work on a website, identify and order necessary materials, design a work space, figure out necessary production steps and sequences of construction and raising funds.
With Pegasus’ emphasis on helping the students learn and grow, rather than the production of the airplane, we expect this first airplane to still take a matter of years to complete. However once completed, each student who has participated in its construction will have an opportunity to ride in it, after which it will be sold to finance the next GFCA/EAA/SMHS STEM project.
"When we started STEM Marin, we had a vision of giving students ownership of their learning and doing rigorous, hands-on science and engineering work. While I had no idea about about the resources and expertise we had within our community, the Pegasus Project plane build is exactly the kind of project we had in mind when imagining the STEM Marin program. Students get to work with expert mentors and run the entire process of building a working airplane. They develop technical, logistical, organizational, and interpersonal skills and I'm tremendously excited for that work to continue."
- Nick Williams, Award winning teacher and Science Department Head, San Marin High School
For more information about The STEM Marin Academy click here and here. For more information about San Marin High School click here.
For information about projects similar to ours, check out the What is an RV-12? page
We are partnered with GFCA (Gnoss Field Community Association)
