Idaho high schoolers build two airplanes, then go fly them
Turns out if you hand teenagers rivet guns instead of standardized test prep, they’ll build something that actually gets off the ground.
Most high school shop programs produce birdhouses and bruised thumbs. In Sandpoint, Idaho, students spent their Saturdays building two full-scale aircraft, earned FAA airworthiness certificates, and then watched one of their own take them into the sky.
The morning of October 4, 2025, marked a turning point for the North Idaho High School Aerospace Program. When the Federal Aviation Administration inspector signed off on airworthiness certificates for a Van’s RV-12 and a Zenith STOL CH 750, it validated years of Saturday morning labor by middle and high school students who’d gathered in rented hangars at Sandpoint Airport to rivet, buck, and wrench their way through two complete aircraft builds.
But getting the FAA’s approval stamp was only half the story. The real vindication came when Eric Gray, a former ACES (Aerospace Center of Excellence Sandpoint) student who’d worked on the Zenith during his own high school years, climbed into the cockpit as the qualified test pilot for both aircraft. It’s the kind of full-circle moment that validates not just the technical competency of the program, but its deeper mission, to create a pipeline from teenage curiosity to aerospace careers.
Turns out if you hand teenagers rivet guns instead of standardized test prep, they’ll build something that actually gets off the ground.