Outline
The Flying Start Challenge is a school competition run by businesses and organisations in the South West of England.
Initiated by the Campaign to Promote Engineering, the Challenge is now entering its 11th year and still offers a great
opportunity for schools to forge links with local industry.
The sponsors are: AgustaWestland, Airbus, Atkins, Fleet Air Arm Museum, GE Aviation, MBDA, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty and Rolls-Royce.
The Challenge continues to grow throughout the region, and this year promises to be the biggest and
best yet with more pupils involved than ever!
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The Task
The Challenge is open to one class of Year 7-9 pupils per school, with the
pupils expected to work in teams of 4. The task is:
'To design and build a hand-launched glider'
Support will be provided throughout the 8 - 12 week project by
representatives from a local 'host' aerospace company.
Three formal presentations are offered by these representatives, covering
aspects of design, manufacture and test. In addition, information and
advice will be available as required. A material pack will be made
available to schools once the manufacturing phase begins.
Each team gets the chance to fly their glider at the regional fly-off. Teams
will be judged on the distance flown, and also on a poster presentation
detailing the design decisions made. In recent years emphasis has also been placed on the use of recyclable materials. Regional fly-offs are held in Cheltenham,
Bristol and Yeovil.
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Prizes
The winning team from each of the fly-offs secures places for their
entire class at the Grand Final held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Here
the regional winners compete against each other in a series of engineering
challenges organised by the companies involved. The Final is hosted
by a celebrity guest. Last year this was Wing Commander Andy Green,
who presented the winning team with free glider flights and the winning
school with a voucher for £1000 of technology equipment. Second place receives £200, third place £100.
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Timetable
The glider design and build should take place over eight to twelve weeks from
October to February, with the work on the Challenge usually taking place during
design/technology lessons and/or after school clubs. Each school will have a 'host' company providing
helpers and a main point-of-contact for the Challenge. The helpers will be
introduced to the schools in the early autumn, when the level of support required
and dates for school visits will be decided.
The gliders must be finished by February so that the best from each school may take
part in the regional fly-off, which will be held one morning at a venue local to
the school.
The class of the winning glider from each regional fly-off will then take part in
the Grand Final at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton in March.
Please note that should the school agree to take part in the Challenge, it is
expected that the participating pupils will attend the regional fly-off and,
if successful, the Grand Final.
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How to Take Part
To participate in this year's Flying Start Challenge please complete the
Registration Form. We encourage
you to return your registration form as soon as possible; the number of schools
that can take part is limited, and places will be decided on a
first-come-first-served basis.
If you have any queries then please don't hesitate to contact a member of the
Flying Start Challenge Organising Team for more
information; we look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
The Flying Start Challenge Team
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