The second annual Sikorsky Australia's Plane Simple paper plane competition is set to take off.
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Sikorsky Australia, together with the Nowra Show Society, Shoalhaven Defence and Industry Group and RDA Far South Coast are inviting local schools to take part.
Organisation for the competition is underway and will continue into December.
The region has enormous potential for students to take careers in the aviation industry, with the aim to help further engage them with science, technology, engineering and maths in a fun and collaborative way.
The Sikorsky Australia's Plane Simple Challenge aims to enable teamwork, creativity and problem solving while being an incredibly enjoyable way to learn a little bit about aviation and potential future career paths open to students.
But with COVID-19, this year's competition has certainly proven to be a challenge.
By either using an online template or creating their own designs, students can build their paper planes and test their prototypes to determine the best ones.
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Once their best entrants are identified at school, the finalists from each school can then compete against other students from the Shoalhaven and Illawarra, albeit virtually.
All schools must register their teams and establish a date within your school for your competition to be held before December 11. All registrations must be submitted to Julia Guy at jguy@globaldefence.com
COVID permitting, a representative from Shoalhaven Defence and Industry Group will join school competitions to ensure all runs according to the established rules.
The competition is open to three age divisions - Group 1 Years 7, 8 and 9; Group 2 Years 10, 11 and 12; and Group 3 tertiary students including higher education and vocational education and training (VET).
Each school can enter up to two teams in the two categories to be contested at the finals - distance and time in air.
For the distance category, each team must throw their paper plane while spotters record distances in metres.
All distances must be measured from the start line to the point where the plane first touches the ground (not the final resting place if it slides).
Each student has up to three chances to get their best distance.
For the time-in-air category, each team must attempt to keep their plane in flight for the longest time, while spotters record each flight attempt with an accurate digital stopwatch.
Report the time accurately e.g. 2.45 seconds. Each student has up to three chances to get their longest 'flight time'.
The Flight Plan is simple -
Launch the competition for each of the year groups in class.
Create two teams made up of two to three students.
Design and build paper planes all using standard 80gsm A4 paper.
Name each group and test prototypes outside at school.
Register up to two teams per category for your school's competition.
Complete your school's competition by December 11 lodging the results with Julia Guy.
A few design and testing tips
When testing, start with a smooth, steady throwing motion, gradually increasing their thrust speed.
Planes with larger amounts of wing area have more lift so should stay aloft longer.
Sleeker designs with swept wings have less drag so should fly faster and further.
The winners will be crowned at next year's 2021 Nowra Show.
For further information contact Julia Guy on 4423 7959 or jguy@globaldefence.com or Paul Goodwin 0409 000 232 or po@rdafsc.com.au.
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