GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — After nearly four years, a student-built plane took off in Greeneville on Tuesday.

The aircraft, built by students in the Aviation Flight Program at the Greene Technology Center, cost around $135,000 to build. On Tuesday, the plane had its first official flight.

Most of the funds were awarded to the center by community partners.

“You can’t do something like this without huge community involvement and support,” TangoFlight Executive Director Dan Weyant said. “From the students to the parents to the mentors, to the school district and the teachers. So it’s amazing to see something like this come together.”

Scott Niswonger, CEO of the Niswonger Foundation, said the foundation gave the center a STEM grant to purchase the airplane kit in hopes it would provide a hands-on learning experience for students.

“Our hope was that we would build one of these every two years, allowing high school students who are interested in STEM to actually go hands-on with building an airplane,” Niswonger said. “We sell it. It becomes self-sustaining… it will be self-sustaining where they can buy their own kit every other year.”

Ethan Wedemeyer, a current aviation student at Northeast State Community College, said the program changed his whole view of aviation.

“Whenever I [got] into this program, I realized there’s way more to aviation than just pilots.”

According to the Greene Technology Center, work is already being completed on a second aircraft.

For more information on the program, click here.