Events

Since founding this Nonprofit, our immediate goals have been to set up the organization, fundraise, and purchase the plane. So far we have gone all across the country and learned relevant skills in plane building and company organization, received State and Federal acknowledgement as a Non-Profit Organization, and we have begun fundraising.

At the beginning of the 2025 Fall semester we plan to begin building the Zenith CH 750. Later, in the Spring semester of 2026, we plan to complete construction of the plane and have the chance to fly all of our members in the plane that we build. Then, to recoup our investment, we will auction the finished airplane at the Princeton Reunions.

In the following years, we will continue this rhythm of purchasing the airplane, building, flying, and auctioning. If we continue to do fundraising, we expect that in the coming years we will be able to build more planes, and ones of greater complexity. After completing our first airplane, we want to share our experiences with other like-minded individuals and eventually expand our business model to other colleges to foster more airplane building clubs.

Ultimately, in four years (2027-28 school year) we would like to do as follows: using the experience and wisdom that we have gained from our engineering courses, we will create a plane of our own entirely unique design. Subsequently, we want to start and race in the first ever transcontinental collegiate air race with experimental aircraft. As far as we know, this will mean that AeroPrinceton will have made two firsts - being the first ever college student run organization to build aircraft, and the first to ever race them.

Shortly after starting the organization we went to Virginia to attend a plane building class in Virginia hosted by EAA, the Experimental Aviation Association. The EAA is committed to helping aviation enthusiasts build experimental aircraft and separately hosts the world’s largest ‘fly-in’ with over ten thousand planes and half a million people in one weekend. At the EAA course , we learned how to rivet and how to build an avionics panel. From this experience, we not only developed our skills, but also connected with highly experienced and accredited pilots and mechanics.

In February, we visited an organization working with high school students to build the popular kit experimental plane, the Vans RV-12 . Here, we learned the importance of planning the project out from the beginning and as well as the importance of team management. Later in the month we also became both state and federally approved as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit.

Over Spring Break, William Rogers went to speak with a high school class building a Vans RV-12. From that group, we learned the importance of creating strong relationships with local mechanics and FAA offices. At the end of the Month, we completed this website, and began reaching out to donors.

In April we finished our initial website, allowing us to spread our message and contact like-minded individuals.