Dozens gathered Wednesday at TSTC’s Connally Aerospace Center to celebrate the completion of Midway High School’s first student-built airplane through the Tango Flight program.
The “First Flight Celebration” recognized 23 students who spent the last two years constructing the aircraft as part of Midway ISD’s engineering Career Technical Education pathway. The event included a patch ceremony honoring the students and a show-and-tell for the plane.
Senior Rowan Engeling said she was proud to see the project completed on schedule after years of work.
“I’m just really proud that we finished it on time, and of the work that everybody did,” Engeling said.
Engeling said she joined the engineering program after hearing about it from her older brother, which sparked her interest in aviation.
“It was a very cool way to end senior year,” she said.
While Engeling said she does not expect to pursue a career in engineering or aviation, she said the experience taught her valuable lessons about teamwork and communication.
“Letting someone finish a part while we also need to finish a part in the same area and kind of communicating and working together, that has been very trying, but very good to learn,” she said.
Midway ISD Superintendent Chris Allen said the program’s greatest achievement was not the airplane itself, but the growth students experienced during the process.
“What we have done is build young people, and we’ve contributed to futures that have unforeseen outcomes,” Allen said during the ceremony.
For some students, the project reinforced existing career goals. Kannon Hendrickson, who plans to become a commercial pilot, said watching the aircraft come together changed how he views aviation.
“Watching this airplane go from a pile of parts to something ready to fly, it’s taught me that aviation is not just about airplanes,” Hendrickson said. “It’s about discipline, precision, and responsibility.”
Allen said programs like Tango Flight succeed because of collaboration between educators, students and the broader community.
“When that love is ignited by the spark of an idea from an individual who says, ‘Let’s do something ambitious, let’s do something that doesn’t show up on a STAAR exam,’ then what you get is an airplane and young people who are able to tell you what they've learned from it” Allen said.
The celebration concluded with students marking the successful build using a homemade version of a traditional aviation water cannon salute. Instead of fire engines spraying water over the aircraft, students used bubble machines to shower the plane in bubbles.
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