For the third year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association has sponsored the GAMA/Build A Plane Aviation Design Challenge. The event is designed to give young men and women exposure to aviation and career opportunities in aircraft maintenance, engineering, manufacturing and piloting.
The competition attracted 74 schools in 31 states and Washington, D.C., and each team was required to have at least one male student and one female student. The schools used “Fly to Learn” curricula and training, including software powered by X-Plane, and then modified a Glasair Sportsman to fly from one airport to another, delivering a maximum payload as quickly and efficiently as possible. Winners were chosen based on the airplane’s performance, an essay that described how the students applied the aviation knowledge they gained in the curricula and how their changes to the airplane promoted efficiency during the flight.
This year’s winners, the Chef Homeschoolers team from Cuba City, Wis., included students Abri Badger, Colton Koester, Nathan Koester and Jonathan Smythe, teacher Tom Smythe and chaperone Steve Badger. They will spend an all-expense-paid two weeks building a Glasair Sportsman at Glasair Aviation in Arlington, Wash., as part of the science, technology, engineering and math competition.
