Discussing Our Future Building Plans with VTRANS

Written By Beth White

We are incredibly grateful to our friends at Scott & Partners and Studio III for helping us dream into our future hangar space.

Habitat for Aviation had the pleasure of meeting with the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Aviation Division for an inspiring and productive conversation. Representing Habitat for Aviation were our Pilot-in-Command, Beth, along with the trusted ground crew of Granny, Zoë, 10-year old Axley, and summer intern, Miranda. From the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTRNS), attendees included Aviation Program Manager, Evan Robinson and State Airport Managers, Eddie Middleton and Christopher Beitzel, along with other key members of the aviation team including Mike Sturges and Robert Luchini.

The floor plan of our future hangar, which includes a GA hangar to the north and an all-electric hangar to the south.

The Modern Rosies of Habitat for Aviation shared our story — how a determined group of women came together to start building an airplane, and how our program continues to demonstrate that women BUILD, FLY, and FIX airplanes. We highlighted the growth of our initiative, the unique community we’ve created, and the powerful message we send to the next generation about what is possible in aviation.

The second floor will house a library, a commercial kitchen that serves healthy food to our participants, and study spaces.

Our discussion also touched on exciting future plans, including our capital campaign to transform our warehouse into a world-class hangar facility, and moving the gate to the active movement area further south so that we may gain access to the runway and thus expand our capabilities and reach. Evan and the entire VTRANS team expressed strong interest in our mission and were eager to explore ways we can work together to advance our shared goals. It was a meeting filled with enthusiasm, vision, out-of-the-box thinking, and the promise of impactful collaboration.

We loved Evan’s motto: How do we get to YES!

A west-perspective look at our future hangar.

Beth White

Education Possibilitarian, Artist, Writer, Doula, Mentor, Aviatrix, Breast Cancer Survivor, Pilot-in-Command at Habitat for Aviation


In the spring of 2022, Beth White emerged from a 10-month battle with breast cancer with an idea: to create an apprenticeship program at Franklin County State Airport where youth work alongside adult mentors servicing conventional and electric aircraft. A pilot and airplane mechanic apprentice herself, and with family roots in the trades, Habitat for Aviation provides an taxilane for world learning opportunities for youth and adults who love to work with their hands to enter the FAA’s apprenticeship certification track. Each day she puts systems in place that make real John Dewey’s philosophy that we “learn best what we live” – a deep throughline from her time at Antioch University New England and as Regional Director for Big Picture Learning. Each learning experience is grounded in relationships, relevance, and practice. In October, 2023, Habitat for Aviation launched its Women Build Planes program, where an all-female team of Modern Day Rosies is building an airplane at Franklin County Airport, in northwestern Vermont, to show folks everywhere that despite the fact that only 2.6% of airplane mechanics are female, women BUILD, FLY, and FIX airplanes.

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Sisterhood in Our VT Sky: Ninety-Nines, Modern Rosies, & Our Shared Mission
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Celebrating One of Our First Youth Aviators: Joseph Mensah