Teacher gives flight to a dream

Community School science teacher Paul Hartl is tackling new challenges, and giving new meaning to the standard model airplane kit he mastered as a kid.

Hartl and eight high school students are working to build a two-passenger ZODIAC aircraft in an independent class Hartl is teaching this summer at the Community School.

The all-metal kit aircraft is built of stressed-skin-semi-monocoque metal, and adapted specifically to be built from a kit. The ZODIAC model Hartl purchased for $25,000 requires 400 hours to assemble, will weigh 560 pounds with the engine, and can travel 800 miles before refueling.

The ZODIAC is the brainchild of Chris Heintz, a light aircraft designer and professional engineer, who founded Zenith Aircraft Company in Mexico, Missouri.

Hartl spent a week at the factory in Missouri, where he test flew the shiny red aircraft, learned to build it, and then rented a U-Haul to pack his dream home to Hailey.

"It’s a beautiful plane; I was smitten," he said.

Hartl describes the plane as comparable to any two-passenger Cessna with terrific visibility and a smooth ride.

Hartl read about the aircraft a year ago in Popular Mechanics magazine, and the idea of owning his own plane percolated in his head for almost a year.

"I thought my students would like to help me build it, and learn what it takes to do so," Hartl said.

"It’s all he talked about in physics last year," joked student Andy Kipling.

Most of Hartl’s students are intrigued with planes, and some hope to pursue aviation as a career.

"I just thought it would be interesting to build a plane," said Kipling.

Like his students, Hartl is fascinated with planes and flying. When he’s not teaching, he designs software for flight simulators and is working toward his pilot’s license.

"This class calls for teamwork; it’s a good hands-on project. These guys get a feeling of how things are built in the real world," Hartl said.

"These guys" include Kipling, Rae Schwiezer, Joel Meyer, Logan Shepardson, Graham Unger, Claire Setera, Jonas Welch and Grace Gyurkey.

The students split into two groups that meet in the morning or afternoon in a workshop in the Science Building. The first two weeks of class, they studied the physics of flight, and were tested on the material with an average score of 97 percent. The students are also designing Web pages detailing their knew-found knowledge for others on the Internet.

The classes meet four hours a day, three days a week, for three weeks to build part of the aircraft. Hartl spends eight hours a day, three days a week at school, and is also building the fuselage, or body of the plane, in his garage at home.

"I have a way better understanding of how planes work," said Shepardson. "They need a lot of power and not a lot of weight."

The students are using tools and employing a type of precision like never before.

"I’ve built a ferret cage before," said Meyer. "It was like Dr. Suess style though."

Kipling boasts building a shed, "but sheds don’t fly," he said.

As his students chew on sunflower seeds and place rivets into the horizontal stabilizer, file metal pieces, or measure pieces of the plane, Hartl steps in with advice or hands-on-help often.

"We’ve got puzzles here to solve. It’s very important we use precise, precise measurements," he said.

Hartl said he trusts the work his students are doing.

"I keep a close eye on them; I think we’re having fun," he said.

Hartl hopes to finish the plane by the time school starts in September, but purchasing and installing the engine will delay his first flight.