Flying high: The Coromandel school helping students build planes

So back to school they go. Another year of maths, English, science — and plane building.

Yep, plane building is what awaits some senior students at Mercury Bay Area School in Whitianga. And before you ask, we're talking dinkum full-size aircraft, not models.

This year the students will be building the school's sixth Van's RV-12 single-engine two-seater as part of an innovative project which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary.

"How many schools build planes, let alone five of them?" said teacher George Fletcher, as the fifth plane to come off the production line took to the air on a test flight.

At the heart of the project is a team of local aviation enthusiasts who act as mentors helping the students navigate intricate plans for the kitset planes, while at the same time teaching them the fundamentals of aeronautics.

"You get a lot of good students coming out of the project," said mentor Tony Turner. "We're proud of it, very proud of it and I think the whole of Whitianga is proud of it."

The initiative was conceived by Whitianga aviation identity Jim Evans, who funded the purchase of the first kitset, imported from Van's Aircraft in Oregon.

He set up a trust which runs the operation in conjunction with the school.

Sadly, Evans was killed in a flying accident on the Coromandel in 2019.

Watching the latest aircraft take flight, his widow, Sheila, said the scheme was doing exactly what her husband had intended — introducing students to a potential career path in aviation.

Evans, she said, would be delighted that the trust was still operating under the stewardship of the mentors.

Cody Bennett, now aged in his mid-20s, is one of several former students to have gone on to a career in aviation. He was on the first school plane built in 2013 and is now a helicopter maintenance engineer at Rotorcraft Helicopter Support at Hamilton Airport.

"It gave me a golden ticket," he said. "I have no idea where I would be right now if I didn't get that. It's awesome."

The programme is largely self-funded, relying on the sale of the aircraft — with a completed price tag approaching $200,000 — during the construction phase.

The newest addition to the student-built RV-12 family has been bought by Linda and Leigh Hopper, of Hopper Developments fame. The company was responsible for waterway property projects in Whitianga, Pauanui and Marsden Cove.

Linda said she hoped to sit her private pilot's licence in the new plane.

And as she sets out on that journey, this year's Year 12 and 13 students will begin their 18-month build of "Plane No 6".