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CNN Sunday Morning

Junior High Students Build Airplane After School

Aired December 16, 2001 - 07:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Staying after school for some students in Washington State means getting some practical, if unusual, hands-on experience. This is why we were talking about ailerons.

Lilian Kim found there story very riveting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It doesn't look like much now, but slowly inside this workshop an airplane is coming together.

TERESA SCOTT, NINTH GRADER: I tell people that I'm building an airplane. They go, oh, you're building a model airplane? I go, no, I'm building a big airplane.

KIM: A big, real-life airplane that junior high school students are building piece-by-piece.

LUCAS MCKAY, SEVENTH GRADER: I always liked building things, like, at my house, but i never have enough tools, or I don't have any material. But here they have everything.

KIM: Heavy duty equipment available for young students to turn sheet metal into an aircraft. It's part of an after-school program that gives kids hands-on experience.

GEORGE STEED, CENTRAL KITSAP JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL: You need to have skills of tool use, you need to have skills of measurement. And more and more, schools aren't teaching these skills. A project like this will teach them.

KIM: Previous classes have already put together one plane. Once it gets an engine, this two-seat utility aircraft should fly at 95 miles per hour. But it's not just flying that excites these kids, it's building.

(on camera): One of the most important lessons is precision. If the hole in this part is more than one millimeter too large, students have to throw it out and start from scratch.

STEED: Really, you're looking at the radius. The radius looks OK.

KIM (voice-over): Because in this class, accuracy is a matter of life and death.

BRAD WILEY, SEVENTH GRADER: The plane might fall apart, so you don't want that to happen.

STEED: I would say that is acceptable.

KIM: A lesson that should put these kids on a steadier flight path in life.

In Seattle, Lilian Kim reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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