(Courtesy photo) The Van's RV-12iS two-seat light sport aircraft built by students at the Manchester School of Technology is scheduled to do a fly-by during this Tuesday's open house at the Aviation Museum of N.H. in Londonderry.

LONDONDERRY – The fly-by of New Hampshire’s first student-built airplane will highlight a plane-building open house for high schoolers and their families on Tuesday, Aug. 23 at the Aviation Museum of N.H.

The open house is for those interested in learning about an innovative hands-on program in which students collaborate with volunteer mentors to build an actual airplane during the school year.

The plane-building program, based at the Manchester (N.H.) School of Technology, is open to students from Manchester, Londonderry, Goffstown, and Bedford and other area towns.

The program is available free of charge to qualified students of high school age, including students in homeschooling, private, and other non-traditional education settings.

The open house will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Aviation Museum of N.H., 27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, N.H.

The event is free and open to all, and will include a fly-by of the program’s first student-built aircraft, weather permitting.

“It’s a great chance for local families to find out more about the plane-building program, “ said Jeff Rapsis, the Aviation Museum’s executive director. “They can speak with faculty and administrators at the Manchester School of Technology, and meet some of our Aviation Museum volunteers.”

The first airplane in the program, a Van’s RV-12iS two-seat light sport aircraft, was recently finished. The plane was built in partnership with the non-profit Aviation Museum of N.H. and Tango Flight, an educational non-profit.

Upon completion, each student-built airplane will be sold on the open market, with the proceeds used to fund future plane-builds at the school.

Construction on the program’s second airplane is slated to begin at the start of the 2022-23 school year.

“This is a great way for students to take STEM learning from the classroom and put it to use in the workshop,” Rapsis said.

When launched in 2019, the aircraft-building partnership was only the fourth of its kind in the nation, and the only one in the Northeastern U.S.

Based in the 1937 art deco passenger terminal at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, the non-profit Aviation Museum of N.H. is dedicated to preserving the region’s rich aviation past, and also inspiring students today to become the aerospace pioneers of tomorrow.

Named “Best Place to Take Kids” in southern New Hampshire in the 2022 HippoPress Readers Poll, the Aviation Museum of N.H. was recently awarded the prestigious ‘Non-Profit Impact Award’ by the Center for N.H. Non-Profits.

For more information about the Plane-building Open House or the Aviation Museum, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call (603) 669-4820. Follow the Aviation Museum on social media at www.facebook.com/nhahs.