PLANE TALK
Teen Flight
And you can help
LAURAN PAINE JR., EAA 582274
Do you remember the first airplane model you built? Dave, a friend from Illinois, his bride, Nancy, and I were talking recently about that
subject during lunch. Dave used wood salvaged from
orange crates to build his; I made mine from sticks and
nailed them together. (Keep in mind that we’re 60-ish in
age.) Jerry VanGrunsven, my friend Van’s brother, still
has his first model (two sticks nailed together with a bent
nail) hanging on his office wall. His mother had it framed
and gave it to him at his retirement party.
We all made our first airplanes from available materials and tools, using imagination, not plans. Our nearest
neighbors were 6 miles away, so as kids we didn’t just play
games, we had to manufacture them. I’m thankful for that
hands-on life.
Times are different now, but I still believe that kids
are in many ways the same: They need parents, love,
lots of guidance, challenge, and they want to be able
to do something good—to contribute. Some may even
want to build and fly an airplane; maybe not with
sticks, like Dave, Jerry, and I did, but with today’s new-age technology.
Some time ago, a caring and “get involved” kind of
guy named Bob Strickland started an education program for at-risk kids. His goal was to prevent academic
failure, break the cycle of economic disadvantage with
early intervention and early preparation, and spark an
interest in learning and in continuing to learn. Under
that umbrella of action came an Airway Science for
Kids (ASK) program. That, naturally, led to various
aviation programs.
Then Bob passed away. At his memorial service,
Richard VanGrunsven, “Van,” of Van’s Aircraft, queried
various attendees as to how to keep the program alive.
Parts of it would be kept alive by others, but Van, forever
caring, passionate, and dedicated to aviation, wanted
to take it a step further: How about kids building an
airplane? Give the aviation program some real “teeth,”
some hands-on experience. When Van speaks, people
generally listen. Donors and funding and space and
equipment and discounts came forward: enough to start
a program.
Now let’s take a look into the future,
envisioning, again, a perfect world: Finish
the airplane, fly it, take lessons in it, sell
it, use the money to pay for another kit,
and do it all over again…perhaps this
time with teens helping teens.
Enter Scott McDaniels, a 13-year employee of Van’s
Aircraft who works in the prototype shop. He has long
had what he calls “this simmering idea” to get kids
involved in aircraft construction. And it fits: Scott and
Deana McDaniels are parents of two children, Adam, 14,
and Amy, 12. Family, kids, airplanes, and caring—those
are the things that make Scott McDaniels tick.
Now witness a casual, teasing conversation on the
work floor of Van’s Aircraft. One day, Tom Green, president, hollers to Scott, “Hey, when the kids gonna build
an RV- 12?”
Scott hollers back, “I’ll get on it. I might have a plan.”
His plan was the simmering idea, still very much in
the “Jell-O stage” of planning, but simmering nonethe-
