earn a degree by building RV?

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

Given that one of the aspects of home built / sport aviation in most countries seems to be "for the education" of the builder, I was wondering today if there are any universities /colleges that would offer a student-driven degree-level program that could tie in closely with the building of an RV. For me, I'm hoping to get seriously underway early next year on building an RV-8, after spending a lot of time reading and researching over the last year. As I currently realistically know very little of actual building, I plan to do a lot of reading and researching on all aspects along the way, as well as documenting my project fairly minutely. It occured to me while driving to work today that the amount of work involved will easily exceed what I've previously needed to do diplomas, graduate diplomas and various certificates in various fields (nursing, IT, photography, law). If I structured my building documentation accordingly, I have no doubt I'd end up writing a very long and extensive thesis!!

So, my question is, does anyone know of, or is anyone involved in university education associated with aviation stream courses. I think this could easily be distance education, so whilst living in Australia, there would be no reason this couldn't be accomplished via a US, UK or other country university, assuming I can't find anything relevant here (starting to look tonight).

Maybe others want to join in and create a "class of 09"???

Thanks in advance.

Darren

[N395V]

Darren,

Many colleges and universities in the U.S. will give credit for life experience or special focused projects. I do however very much doubt the time building an RV comes even close to the time required for a BS in Nursing, IT or a JD. As such I doubt you would get very many credit hours depending on the certificate you are pursuing.

I will however be happy to sell you a Photoshop degree from Bearcat University.

Say maybe a Phd. of RV

Cheap only $500,000 USD

[Mike Macon]

Darren -

I met a very nice gentleman in San Luis Obispo, CA a few weeks ago. He is from Perth and will be returning soon. It was my understanding he is in San Luis assisting the Aeronautical Department and teaches in Perth using RVs as projects.

You might also try searching the forums. Cal Poly had a 7A project that was discussed here.

Good luck.

[FredMagare]

Originally Posted by N395V

<snip>

I will however be happy to sell you a Photoshop degree from Bearcat University.

Say maybe a Phd. of RV

Cheap only $500,000 USD

Ooh, The Fightin' Bearcats! I think I've heard of them. Actually, when my plane is done and flying, I wouldn't mind having a "Diploma of Graduation" to hang on my wall - complete with N-number. You may be on to something!

Your degrees could be kind of like a law degree... Once you've got it you need to take it to a BAR! (The Bar?)

[mcjon77]

I can only speak about the U.S. educational system. There is an indirect way to do this that I have toyed with, although a person most likely would have to build more than one aircraft for it to work.

Essentially, a person could build and maintain several aircraft for enough total hours (4800) to qualify for the A&P exam. Once they take (and hopefully pass) the A&P exam, I know of multiple legitimate, accredited universities that will give up to 60 credit hours for that license alone. If they have a CPL/CFI they can probably get another 20 credit hours. Thats 2/3 the to a BA/BS. Throw in some CLEP tests to get credit for the general education requirement courses and you've got yourself a degree.

Now, time-wise, there are much quicker, much easier and MUCH cheaper ways to get a degree, but building and flying RV's to earn a college degree seems like a lot of fun.

Jon

[jarhead]

Originally Posted by mcjon77

Essentially, a person could build and maintain several aircraft for enough total hours (4800) to qualify for the A&P exam.

Good luck getting a FSDO rep to buy off on that...

I had 8+ years of heavily-documented USMC aircraft maintenance experience to show the FSDO... it didn't matter. All I got was the Airframe test "permission slip" that was guaranteed by my MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). He would NOT give me the Powerplant, even though I had well over 2000 hours of DOCUMENTED powerplants experience. Ultimately, I had to go to A&P school for 10 months to get the Powerplant "permission slip" to take the written tests.

[N395V]

Originally Posted by jarhead

Good luck getting a FSDO rep to buy off on that...

I had 8+ years of heavily-documented USMC aircraft maintenance experience to show the FSDO... it didn't matter. All I got was the Airframe test "permission slip" that was guaranteed by my MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). He would NOT give me the Powerplant, even though I had well over 2000 hours of DOCUMENTED powerplants experience. Ultimately, I had to go to A&P school for 10 months to get the Powerplant "permission slip" to take the written tests.

Same happened to me after 4 years of Naval/Marine Avionics training. 2 years of classroom and 2 years OJT. Wasn't allowed to even take the test and only 10 credit hours credited for it at my university.

[mrblob]

I'm the guy who started the Cal Poly project. The initial idea was to give engineering students some hands on experience. Working on the plane was a lab class tied to a thin-walled structures lecture. The biggest problem we faced was trying to push 20-25 students through the class each quarter. By the time anybody got the hang of what they were doing, it was time to start a new quarter. Anyway, the plane sat idle for awhile, and was then revived as a special project for a small group of students. It's flying now.

Paul

[mcjon77]

[quote=jarhead;282186]Good luck getting a FSDO rep to buy off on that...
QUOTE]

Actually, I know of several people who have gotten their A&P cert from building Experimentals and/or restoring/maintaining there certified aircraft through owner assisted annuals and repairs.

The EAA has a page describing the process: http://members.eaa.org/home/homebuil...xperience.html

Also, there is an article in the December 2008 issue of Sport Aviation that describes how to do this (page 87 "From Aircraft Owner To A&P Mechanic" by Jeff Simon).

Now I certainly wouldn't recomend anyone go this route if there sole goal was to get an A&P cert. There are quicker, easier, and cheaper ways to do it. There is also no garuantee that every FSDO will sign off on it depending on what you did and how you documented it.

However, if a person is going to build these aircraft because they love doing it regardless, it is certainly something to look into. Think of it as the icing on the cake. If the FSDO accepts it, great. If not, you've still had fun building several cool airplanes.