Flying Start Challenge Test Flights

The Flying Start Challenge finalists held their test flights last week with three teams competing for a spot in the regional finals. After spending several weeks designing and building their gliders, the teams tested their craft for distance and accuracy. The engineers from AtkinsRéalis returned to officially measure the flights and to give students advice on the next leg of the competition. They were blown away by what our students produced. One group flew the full diagonal length of the Sheldon School Hall, measuring a whopping 15m! The glider could have gone further if it not incurred a mid-air collision with one of our speakers in the far corner of the room. A second group exceeded 12m and the third group was commended for their innovative and sophisticated design. All of our young engineers demonstrated outstanding teamwork and camaraderie throughout the competition, even helping their competitors with repairs after a few rough landings on the test flights.

Thank you to AtkinsRéalis for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about aerospace engineering and to our students for being such enthusiastic participants! We can't wait to see your fly through the next round!