Holding The World On Our Shoulders
by clc3qy / April 26, 2020
















This plane would not have been possible without our generous donors and this year, Miner Aviation set a record fundraising amount of $8800. We would like to give a very special thanks to one of our largest donors, retired Navy Commander Gary Henderson and his wife, retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Peggy Henderson. Not to be left out are our generous 33 crowdfunding donors who raised $3300 for the team. We would also like to thank the Missouri S&T Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (AMAE), the Missouri Space Grant Consortium, Missouri S&T Student Council, MathWorks, and the Missouri S&T Student Design and Experiential Learning Center for their support.
Another important group that made this possible was our members. Pouring thousands of hours of labor in their free time over the last academic year, our members give us the ability to do what some might think impossible. Our leaders then turn around and put in almost twice as much work to secure funding, work and meeting space, travel accommodations, write proposals and reports, and pass on their wealth of knowledge to their younger peers on the team. Sometimes that even meant staying up till 7 am to finalize and submit our 60-page design report to the completion officials.
You can read our full report here.



As a long time member of this team, I can not be more proud of my second family. I’ve watched them grow so much in the last 3 years. A certain book passage helps describe what I see in them:
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible... it's yours.” ~Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Watching us overcome many obstacles and building one of the largest (by volume) planes in team history has been one of the highlights of my college career. Not even the terrible situation of a health crisis could slow us down. Now we set our focus on the future and rigorously prepare for next season. For the Miners in Flight will not be grounded anytime soon.
All the best,
Chandler Cairatti
Miner Aviation President