Aeronautical center staff stand with Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and State Rep. Mike Speedy during the ribbon cutting on Saturday at the Greenwood Airport.
Ashlyn Myers | Daily Journal
The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter of Greenwood unveiled the new Aeronautical Center of Technology at the Indy South Greenwood Airport on Saturday. The new center offers students in Central Indiana the opportunity to learn about aerospace engineering, 3D printing and rocket building.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers and State Rep. Mike Speedy, R-Indianapolis, were in attendance to celebrate the ribbon cutting. Speedy served as the emcee of the event, which officials said was fitting because of his prior pilot experience. Speedy said he began taking flight classes as a teen and finished them in adulthood. Echoing Speedy’s interest in aviation as a teen, many young aviation enthusiasts were also in attendance.
New frontiers
Youth have been learning about aviation at the Greenwood airport for years now, but the aeronautical center is an expansion of the airport’s efforts to prepare the next generation of pilots who will someday rule the skies. With the new center, they can also get an introduction to the final frontier: space.
In August, students from surrounding high schools and some homeschool students will gather to begin learning about 3D printing, rocketry, aircraft flying and more.
Lily Lewen, a senior at Roncalli High School, will participate in the center’s 3D printing club starting in August. She said she’s interested in studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue, and she’s keeping her fingers crossed that she’ll be accepted.
She decided to take 3D printing first because it’s offered after school hours. Some of the ACT’s programming is also available to students during the day, as the program offers school credit to students.
Lewen has a decent grasp on 3D printing and an understanding of the basic steps of the process.
“Basically, you’d design a 3D model on the computer and then you can turn that into a program that’ll slice your model into layers,” Lewen said. “Then you insert that file into the computer [on the 3D printer], and it’ll print your design out layer by layer.”
When it comes to engineering advances, Lewen said the sky’s the limit. 3D printers are able to use more than just plastic when creating designs. Modern advances have allowed printers to also use other materials, like metal or even sugar.
“The only limit is really what you can design,” Lewen said.
3D printing instructor, Dr. Pingnan Shi said he’s excited for students to learn about 3D printing because “it gives them a taste for every part of engineering.”
With the raw machinery that comes with building the designs and the programming it takes to create a product, students are able to take their STEM experiences to new heights.
Ping said the field of 3D printing is growing every day, making it a solid career path for the next generation of Hoosiers.
“There actually is a start-up company which can use 3D printers to make rockets,” Ping said.
During the opening event, students and staff showed off their offerings to the public, from 3D printing to airplane fabrication. One of the center’s other main features is its high-tech flight simulator room, which features multiple stations for students to get a realistic pilot experience. During the open house, many students demonstrated the simulators. There were familiar sights shown on the simulator, including a pilot’s-eye view flyover of U.S. 31 and Interstate 65.
The simulators have some of the same controls as aircraft, giving students the opportunity to “fly” without taking their feet off the ground.
Out in the hangar, other students showed event attendees how to put together sheets of metal, to create the wing of a plane.
Growth, collaboration
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch said she’s proud of the work done by the Greenwood airport and its surrounding community.
“You know what is so absolutely fabulous to me about today and about Greenwood and about the region? The amount of collaboration that has taken place to make today a reality,” Crouch said. “But it’s not only about collaboration. It’s about the community giving their time, their talent, their donations, their knowledge to be able to prepare the next generation of aviation and engineering leaders in our state.”
Crouch congratulated the program coordinators on their success. In the last 10 years, the chapter has educated over 4,500 students on aviation.
“That means that the 127 aviation facilities here in Indiana are going to have pilots and aviation workers moving into the future,” Crouch said.
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said it was exciting to see the airport continue to grow. He complimented Roger Tomey, the director of the center, and Greg Hill, president of the EAA Greenwood chapter, for their hard work on this project.
“[They] have put all their blood, sweat and tears into this for free. They’ve donated their time, their energy. They’ve received donations to have almost everything you see in this room donated, all of the materials,” Myers said. “Really, they’re who this is about today.”
To learn more about the center and the courses offered, visit: aerotechcenter.org/
