Welcome to Flying Start Challenge
Flying Start Challenge is a STEM competition for local schools in the South West of England. This year the challenge is being run and sponsored by six aerospace engineering companies: Airbus, Atkins, Leonardo, MBDA, Rolls-Royce and Safran Landing Systems.
The challenge is designed to allow students to develop their knowledge of flight and get some hands on engineering experience; gaining a top level understanding of an engineering design and build process. We aim to provide an opportunity for pupils to build on their soft skills such as teamwork, communication and problem solving, whilst also having fun!
The aim is for teams composed of four students to design, build and test a model glider that they will present at their regional Fly-Off, where each team will have the chance to fly their glider against schools from the same region. Teams will be judged on various criteria such as the distance flown, innovative design, use of recycled materials and more which will be detailed in a poster presentation. Winning teams from each regional Fly-Off get the chance to compete at the Grand Final.
2021/22 Update:
We are excited to announce that the Flying Start Challenge in 2021/22 academic year is going ahead. We are expecting to have the Regional and Grand finals face-to-face, if there is no change to the government guidance or our companies’ policies. We are already preparing for finals and are looking forward to bringing them back. The lessons delivered to schools have also largely returned to normal, albeit some of the schools are having virtual sessions online.
Details for the Regional and Grand finals of 2021/2022, including the format, date, and venues will be announced in due course. We will send updates to our participating schools once they are available.
We cannot wait to see our future engineers again.
A MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE 2019/20 REGIONAL FINALS!