Pryor High Schoolers Building Airplane For Aviation Program

High school students in Pryor are going to be building an airplane as part of the district's aviation program.

Four days a week, aviation students at Pryor High School get a bus ride to the MidAmerica Expo Center for class.

The students are getting ready to build an airplane.

"I've never heard of a high school doing this," Senior Anthony Alberty said.

Students are going through the thousands of parts it will take to build the RV-12 iS plane. It is an experimental plane, and will go through testing before taking to the skies.

"The attraction of building an airplane is just - it's a fantastic opportunity," Pryor HS Aviation Instructor Dr. Jenny Peters said.

Dr. Peters said she started the program three years ago, but this is the first time they are building an aircraft.

Students go through classes that teach the aviation history, and physics before getting to this point.

"The logical conclusion of all of that knowledge building, would be to physically build the airplane themselves," she said.

Students are taking on the assignment with mentors, like Terri Tugmon, by their side.

"The kids are learning, the mentors are learning. We're all learning all this together," Tugmon said. "So that's the exciting part."

The other exciting part is realizing these students will be more prepared to jump into a career field that desperately needs them.

"I plan on being a commercial pilot," Alberty said.

"My parents are very happy of me being in this," Senior Peyton Donnelly said.

"We're really lucky to have a program like this. And at a high school level is pretty crazy," Sophomore Colby Cooper said.

The plane will take two years to build and everyone involved is already looking forward to the program taking off.  

Click here for information on the plane.