See other Metropolitan Airport Commission videos for Flying Cloud and Anoka on the MetAirCommission Channel on  YouTube.

from On Final March 2006

This year, I have nominated our Chapter 25 member, Roger Anderson, as a candidate for the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. As most of you know, Roger was one of the founding members of Chapter 25 some fifty years ago, and his Minnesota background of aerospace education, teaching Minnesota youth about aviation technology and aircraft maintenance, makes him a solid candidate. His candidacy will face a challenge this June when his credentials are presented to the Hall of Fame Selection Committee, as he will be among nearly 70 candidates vying for the six openings. You, members of Chapter 25 who know and love Roger can help his case by writing your own comments on Roger’s contributions to the Minnesota aviation community and forwarding them to me, Noel Allard, 14155 Briarwood Drive, Menahga, MN 56464. I’ll need the letters as soon as possible to get things moving.

For this class, the sky isn’t the limit; it’s the goal

Congrats Peter! Keep up the good work.

For about three years now, Peter Denny, our adopted “Aussie” and the Washburn Aviation Small Learning Community (”SLC”) Lead Teacher and Coordinator, has been striving for this moment.

In his free time Peter treks from group to group sharing his dreams and vision to bring a more “hands-on” style of learning to make Aviation real for students. Peter’s experiences teaching in Australia proves this method is successful. As he talks and travels, he has been hoping someone would be able to provide the financial backing to make this “take off.”

Earlier this year, this finally transpired. An Alumnus from the Washburn High School Class of 1958 kindly stepped forward and contributed the funds necessary to purchase the two-person monoplane “kit” from Sonex-Ltd., in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Several of his classmates have pledged their support for this project and he made good on their pledges.

Building a plane from “spinner to rudder” is without a doubt the best way to expose students to the many-sided nature of aviation. In practical terms, professional aviators will tell you it is beneficial to be a “Jack-of-all-Trades.” The best pilots know you need experience and skills with mathematics, metallurgy, geography, economics, architecture, graphics, aerodynamics, carpentry, physics, English, design and meteorology to name a few. This hands-on plane building class supplies participants with much needed experience in supportive and positive surroundings.

Class members will be able to take this practical learning experience and their successes and apply it, no matter what career choice lies ahead for them.

A few issues pushed the target start date for building out a few months. This down time was wisely used preparing and studying blueprints, manuals and other documents needed for this momentous undertaking.

To-date, the building teams have been established and the students are researching their components. They have also been practicing with pneumatic tools, forming gussets and putting in rivets. It’s not as easy as Mr. Denny makes it Appropriating a line from Cap’n Jack Sparrow in a recent blockbuster movie Pirates of the Carribean, this “Ship is more than a keel and a hull and a deck.” This ship is called Spirit of Washburn’s Band of Brothers for its contributors and its intention to signify the dreams and hopes of the young people who have studied and are studying Aviation and Aerospace at Washburn.

When the plane is completed in about two years, it is Peter’s plan to first fly the plane generally along the Louis and Clark trail from St. Louis, Missouri to Haystack Rock, on the Pacific shoreline in Oregon. Exploring “uncharted territory,” so to speak.

After that, he will fly it “in formation” with many other Sonex builders in a cross-country fly-by with touch-downs in places like Jefferson City, Missouri; Sioux City, Iowa; Pierre, South Dakota; Bismarck, North Dakota; Missouri Breaks, Montana and Lewiston, Idaho, as a practical exhibition of “working outside the box” and going to the edge.

The Diary of the building class can be found at:
http://washburn.mpls.k12.mn.us/The_Sonex_Diaries.html.
We would certainly appreciate your comments, questions, suggestions and support in any form. Please direct inquiries to Mr. Denny at peter.denny@mpls.k12.mn.us or Celia Poehls (Aviation SLC Parent Team Leader) at cezzium@yahoo.com.

from On Final April 2005

Chapter 25 has awarded its EAA Aircamp scholarship for 2005 to Noah Lorsung of Washburn High. Noah is shown with instructor Peter Denny in the photo to the left. Noah is 17, and is enrolled in Algebra2/ Trig, AP US History, Spanish I, Aviation Construction, AP Chemistry, and English 11.

Q: Why would you like to be selected for this experience?
A: I would like to be selected because I am in my junior year of high school and I would like to get to know the industry better, so I can make choices about colleges and my future. I would also like to learn more about experimental aircraft.

Q: What would you gain from this experience?
A: I would gain more than just bragging rights; I would be able to make a life altering decision: college. I would be able to enlighten my peers on the pros and cons of the industry, and I would be able to spread the word.

Q: What would it be like to meet other young people from all over America at this camp?
A: It would be very cool, especially if they were into experimental aircraft and could enlighten me with their knowledge. I think ti would be very neat if I could meet and discuss our progress (on the Sonex) with another student my age, or thereabouts.

Q: What is it that makes you passionate about aviation?
A: Two words: Mr. Denny. He has elevated my love for aviation to a new height. Before I had his classes I was nowhere as near informed about aviation and the atmosphere revolving around it.