By Abigail Oleniczak
Gage Wirtzberger, EAA 1324792, 18, of Greenville, Texas, built a Sky Pup from scratch and plans to fly it for the first time in a month. He drove it up from Texas, and it can be seen in the Ultralights area.
Gage decided at 16 to build his own aircraft. The blue Sky Pup he built is made out of foam and wood.
Gage’s dad flew RC aircraft and introduced the idea of airplanes to him, he said. He has about a month left until he will have earned his private pilot certificate. Gage said he wants to be sure he understands the material well before taking his test.
This is his first year at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021, and he has enjoyed every minute of it. Whenever Gage brought up AirVenture, his friends always said it’s a great place to go and would get super excited about it.
Gage said what makes aviation appealing to him is “getting off the ground and up with the birds.”
After looking at the Titan Tornado airplane and a few others, his parents gifted the Sky Pup plans to him for Christmas. They told him it was easy to build and the safest one to fly.
It took him a little over a year to build, and he worked at a chicken farm for two years to afford the materials. Locating the material and avionics took a lot of research, time, and money, he said. The foam needed to be at least 2 inches thick because of the heat in Texas.
For his future, Gage said he may do oil line flying or possibly go to college for an engineering degree.
He wants to get the Sky Pup up as soon as possible and appreciates the help he had building it from his dad and little sister in their shop.
“It was definitely a family project,” Gage said.