A student mariachi band broke into song and cheerleaders shook pompoms on a crisp Monday morning as the single propeller on Dragon 1, a small airplane built by Southwest High School students, roared to life before taking off on its first official flight.
Students, teachers and district administrators cheered as the two-seat RV-12iS Special Light Sport Aircraft circled the skies above the Stinson Municipal Airport and performed several touch-and-go landings.
The occasion marked the culmination of more than four years of work by more than 180 students who participated in aviation program at the high school. Launched in 2018, it is the only such program in the state to have built a plane from scratch in this manner, according to officials.
The aircraft was constructed from a kit under the direction of instructor Rudolfo Urby, who has since moved on to teach physics, and Bob Franz, a district STEM consultant, as well as a rotating cast of maintenance instructors.
As the plane circled above, Alana Medina, a junior at Southwest who’s pursuing a pilot’s license, peered into the sky, glancing down at an app on her phone where she could track the exact location of each of the small aircraft and helicopters circling above. She also listened intently to the interactions between pilots and air traffic control on a small handheld radio.
“Having flown planes, I know exactly what they are talking about,” she told the San Antonio Report.
Medina recently helped fasten rivets onto the plane’s tail end, one of the final steps in the aircraft’s construction.
She used her knowledge from the program to apply for a scholarship to an aviation program at South Dakota University, where she obtained flight hours toward her license.
“I have been given countless opportunities to attain tons of knowledge from how to use a rivet gun, how the engine of a plane works and even how to fly,” she told the assembled crowd. “Using this information, I’ve been able to apply for many scholarships, including to programs where I have received at least half of my flight hours, which puts me right on track to receive my pilot’s license.”
On Monday, she helped excited staff members figure out which plane to look out for and paused to watch as the small white aircraft came in for what she called “a beautiful landing.”
Raul Rivas, another junior at the school, was among the students responsible for putting the finishing touches on the plane.
“We helped with wrapping up the plane and painting the plane,” he said. “If you have a plane that is made of aluminum, it would rust, right? So we learned how to place things and about the wrapping.”
As the plane pulled in front of the hangar, Medina grabbed wooden wheel chocks, triangular blocks of wood joined by a length of rope that are placed under aircraft wheels to prevent any inadvertent movement.
Riley Smith, who graduated from Southwest in 2022, proudly pointed to the contraptions as they were placed under the wheels after the rotor stopped.
“I put those together,” Smith said.
He was also the first in a line of people to shake the pilot’s hand, reminiscing over the long road to the first flight.
Darren Medlin, the pilot and a mentor in the aviation program, emerged from the plane to thunderous applause.
“This plane is like a magic carpet,” he said. “When you get in it, and you lift up, the visibility is fantastic, and you can feel the air under the wings.”
Medlin first helped a church youth group build a plane and in doing so met Wayne Fagan, the chair of the Dee Howard Foundation, which provides funds and resources for education in aviation.
Funding for the plane kit came from Southwest Independent School District’s education foundation, according to a district spokeswoman, while the Dee Howard Foundation funded educational opportunities and field trips related to aviation.
Lloyd Verstuyft, the Southwest ISD superintendent when the program launched, commended students in a recorded statement before the flight for staying the course, even as a pandemic sent planning into the virtual space in 2020.
“They never got off track,” he said. “We had to modify our journey, but the journey stayed on track, which brought us here to the first airplane built in San Antonio, Bexar County” by students.
Jeanette Ball, the district’s current superintendent, said she was impressed by the students’ work and had been waiting for the launch day for more than a year.
“This is a one-of-a-kind program,” she said. “And we are so excited about it.”
She noted that while the plane was a first for the district and the region, it would not be the last.
“We are so proud of this and we want to continue to do this all the time,” she said. “We don’t want this class to end, so this is going to be our first of many.”
