This has two aerospace events: Middle School is "Propeller Propulsion" and High School is "Propeller Propulsion Plus". PPPlus is a rubber powered model which will Rise Off Ground and fly in the gym. The winner is the longest time aloft. The website for Science Olympiad is http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/9699
TSA also has two events. The Middle School event is "Flight Challenge" and the High School event is "Flight Endurance". The Flight Challenge event is a catapult launched glider (300mm x 300mm) flown indoors for high time aloft and the Flight Endurance event is loosely based on the PPPlus event above. The website for TSA is http://www.tsawww.org/
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This photo shows the Science Olympiad Competition
winner of the State-wide contest from 1998. The contest
was held at Tufts University. Fritz Bien is holding the
Concord middle school winning entry, and Christian Dimpfl
is holding his purple clone of it. Bill Dimpfl, Chris's
father, is behind him. Regretfully, Cedric is not in the
picture because Cedric and Christian entered as a team,
with Cedric building and Chris flying in the event. Bill
made the torque meter, and Fritz provided the design. The
propeller is a SIG 7" cut to the 6 1/2"
requirement and scraped to 2.8 g. The plane has 23
1/2" span, and weighed 10 grams without the rubber
motor. They didn't know that the rubber counted in the
minimum weight. Winning time: 2 minutes and 1.84 seconds aloft! New Download!!!: The plan for this airplane (When you see the plan on your screen, right-click on it and save it as a file.) |
The airplane can only be constructed from balsa wood, paper, and glue. (No films or other exotic materials.)
The wingspan can be no more than 50cm. The wing chord may not exceed 12 cm. The airplane must be a monoplane, no bi-planes. Wings may be attached by rubber bands.
Construction of balsa and tissue paper only.
The stabilizer span (the width of the tail) must not exceed 35 cm.
A commercial plastic propeller of no more than 20cm diameter. It must be molded in one piece. When you buy them, they include a metal propeller shaft. That's okay. You're not allowed to build your own propeller.
The airplane must weigh at least 10 grams without the rubber motor (this is less than three pennies!)
The rubber band motor must weigh 2 grams or less including lube and O rings.
Wheels for high school no more than 1.5 cm.
Since this is a contest of duration, keep it light. Lightweight airplanes fly longer.
The stabilizer and rudder are flat. The wing is flat with raised wing tips. Use very little glue.
Notice that some balsa is heavier than others. Use simple construction with a single stick for fueslage and tail boom.
Cover only the top of each surface with tissue paper. This will save weight.
Don't add extras like wheels, cabins, decorations or decals. They add weight.
Build two airplanes in case one breaks. Often, one will fly better than the other.
Practice your building techniques! You may wish to practice by building and flying a smaller airplane before you build the airplane you wish to compete with.
Practice Flying! You will need a few test flights to get it balanced and trimmed to fly properly.
Use the "Coach's Handbook for Propeller Propulsion" for Science Olympiad. It discusses many aspects of design beyond the "standard" aerodynamic principles (4 forces of flight, 3 axis of rotation, etc) such as wing loading, power managment, weight management, shaving and re-pitching plastic props, a trouble shooting chart for flight trimming and universal trim tab designs. There's much more including a discussion of the Reynold's Number and how it affects these airplanes, how to record or document all flight testing, etc. "There are no specific plans as the intention was for students to build and improve on kits or published plans. We didn't want a build tonite, compete tomorrow concept. We wanted a course of development, trial and error using classic cause and effect experimentation." There is nothing else specifically written yet that complies as directly as the handbook. For your copy, see the web site http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/science/olympiad.htm
See the other tips offered on this web page.
Find a mentor on www.sirius.com/~thayer/sotsa
Ray Harlan has introduced the Bambino kit for the Science Olympiad events. It has 10 pages of step-by-step instructions for building and flying. The kit includes hand selected balsa color coded for density and a dozen FAI Tan II rubber motors. Kids and teachers who have never built a model before can enter a competitive model at 8 grams. He has also introduced a Double Spring Scale to weigh the parts. One spring goes 0-1 gram, the other 0-10 grams. For more information, send email to: rbharlan@mindspring.com
Shoebox R.O.G. or Right Flyer from Midwest Products Co.Midwest Products Co. Education Products Division has FF products that comply and they can send a catalog at no charge. They are a sponsor of Science Olympiad.
Gary Baughman offers a book called "The Wright Stuff, A Comprehensive Manual for building and flying Science Olympiad and TSA Model Aircraft."
Science Olympiad CDROM for sale on http://www.cgsaviation.com/items.htm
For additional airplane tools, kits, materials and supplies, see the Indoor Model Airplane List of Vendors
Thanks to Don Slusarczyk we have a free plan for the: "Why Not?" Science Olympiad Airplane
Here's another free plan for the Concord Middle School Science Olympiad Airplane
Links to other Science Olympiad stuff: http://public.murl.com/ffmyhobby/Science_Olympiad
Students will understand aerodynamics.
Students will do scientific research with documentation.
Students will duplicate what a Research and Development division would do at manufacturing facility. Take current designs and improve them or discover better methods, scientifically.
Students will definitely have fun!
