AIAA to host model airplane contest

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Children and adults of all ages are invited to test their "piloting" skills May 7 at a free-flight model airplane contest sponsored by the Tennessee Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

The free event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in a field adjacent to 625 Old Shelbyville Highway (Highway 130) in Tullahoma. The entrance is on the left, 0.6 miles from the Wilson Avenue intersection.

Rubber band-powered Delta Dart model airplanes will be provided, according to Dr. Frank Steinle, a member of the local AIAA council and contest director.

"You wind them up and let them go," Dr. Steinle an Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) senior engineer at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) said. "They are at the mercy of the winds and the thermals and how you launch them.

"They're being built by students at UTSI [University of Tennessee Space Institute], so they'll be furnished so nobody has to bring anything. Because we're furnishing the airplanes, nobody has an advantage over construction techniques or anything like that."

First and second place trophies and third, fourth and fifth place ribbons will be awarded to the top finishers in three categories: spot landing (closest to marker), precision flight (best three flights for 10-second flight objective each, sum of lowest deviation) and maximum flight (best three flights for maximum time up to 25 seconds each, total time).

First, second and third place trophies will also be awarded for overall best, which will be judged by the lowest sum of the placements.

"You have to enter all three events to be eligible for that," Dr. Steinle said. "You can fly as many flights as you want. We'll take your best ones to use, so you can stay at it as long as you like or as little as you like.

"Our local section is putting on this event as part of promoting AIAA. This is the first contest we have hosted where the models will be furnished and there are no age groups."

The event is open to the entire community. Contestants are invited to bring their own food and beverages.

More details are available at www.aiaa.org/portal/tennessee.