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AVIATION DAY United Airlines Hanger - DIA "The aviation day event was a spectacular experience. There was a C-130 military troop transport plane, a United 787, and a Southwest plane that had yet to fly its first flight. Apart from the big planes that you could climb inside and get a tour of, there were tons of personal and stunt planes. These small planes offered another side to flying apart from the commercial business. There were small rockets, engines, and other airplane parts that were available to look at and to learn about. Aviation Day was a wonderful experience, and there was also free food and tons of loot!" - Mitchell Maddox "In elementary school and middle school, I loved going on field trips, but never have I experienced one as amazing as Aviation Day. Although the free food was great, that was not the reason I enjoyed it so much. All the planes and the people presenting at their booths inspired me. It inspired me to pursue an aerospace engineering related career." - Dominic Menessa "Aviation day is a yearly event that promotes students in the field of aerospace, by providing tours and viewing of commercial, military, and stunt airplanes. In the main area, a real commercial Boeing 787 was available to be toured, as well as multiple in service military aircraft. Throughout the day, many company representatives presented what their company does, and offered multiple items to take home. Lunch was also provided, if you filled out a packet involving the various stations in the area." - Tyler Moll https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ASVP-kKBl4 |
BALSA WOOD GLIDERS
During our first month of Aerospace we worked on knowing the parts to gliders, designing them, and making balsa wood models that fly. It started by learning about airfoils (the shape of the airplane wings), to going to a program and designing the different parts to make the glider fly efficiently. After fine tuning the numbers for the parts we were able to get our bourprintd to start cutting the balsa wood into shape. After assembling the parts using strong glue we were able to go outside to the practice field to throw our gliders and get results. My glider was the biggest one and took the longest to make, but it flew like a charm. At the end of the day we gathered the results to see what size and shape worked the most efficiently. When we designed the gliders they had to be aerodynamic, and to get that we had to use sandpaper to create an airfoil on the wings. Then when we were done, we setup a drone to record the videos of the our gliders taking off. Overall, it was a successful project and definitely a fun one!" - Beau Miley and Logan Sutton |
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
Sector 33 Nasa "In the air traffic control unit, we used the the program called sector 13. In this program, we took on the stress of the air traffic controller to command air planes to slow down, change paths, and watch for weather patterns. The minimum nautical miles that were safely allowed in-between is three. Also if it was more than three, it would push back flight times for other air crafts. If the air craft is to close, the air craft on the air strip will not be completely out of the way for the air craft in the air to land. Air traffic controllers also have to be aware of the fly zones which could make the plane ride longer." -Nathan Hutson |
PAPER AIRPLANES
"In this experiment, my peers and I construct several paper model airplanes, and observed their flight patterns. Furthermore, utilizing our knowledge of the movement of aircraft, it became evident each prototype performed differently. We witnessed first hand, our planes undergoing pitch, yaw, and roll while airborne." - Joey Jardine and Jake Mansdorfer |
FIBERGLASS
"The fiberglass experiment was a valuable experiment to help us learn how important composites are. To make the fiberglass, we took the uniliteral and bilateral fibers and wrapped them around a piece of styrofoam. We then made epoxy and coated the fibers with it. Two days passed and then we were able to test the strength of the fiber glass. We started with 21 pounds and hung it underneath the secured fiberglass. We then added another 20 pounds and then another 35 pounds. After we had over 100 pounds hanging from the fiberglass, we decided to have a student hang from it. Not realizing that the amount of force needed to propel someone off the ground would snap the fiberglass, we snapped both the unilateral and the bilateral fiberglass boards." - Mitchell Maddox "Recently, in class we worked with two types of fiberglass, one with one direction of fabric, and another with fabric that goes both ways. We made it by covering Styrofoam with a type of liquid plastic, then we waited a day, and overnight it hardened. Both the one and the two layer fiberglass withstood upwards of a 100 pounds of pressure. Both samples only cracked when I hung from a carabiner when the fiberglass was suspended between two tables." - Tyler Moll |
Astronaut Jack Fischer
November 16, 2017 "Astronaut Jack Fischer visited our school and shared his journey with us. We were able to see amazing pictures from space and learn about the path he took in his education and career before becoming an astronaut. He is an inspiration to many people that have dreams of being a part of space exploration." - Emily Barr |
Flight Physiology
Visual Perception / Reaction Time "I learned that flight physiology has an extremely important role in aerospace because human factors cause over 70% of accidents. We took a colorblind test and reaction time tests to see if we would have the physical capabilities to become a pilot. I thought it was really interesting to see the different human qualities you need in aerospace." - Reagan Russell "Flight physiology is one of the most important factors in being a pilot. While it boils down to luck based on how well you can see and how you see colors, it still is a very important factor in aviation and keeps everyone as safe as possible!" - Grayson Wolff |
DJI Phantom 3 Drone Standard
"The DJI Phantom 3 is an awesome addition to the engineering program’s growing fleet. This is a great drone to learn the basics of flight and practice aerial cinematography. We get some awesome footage of the schools addition and some great footage of the K-8 going up next door. Through the school we were able to get our AMA membership for free and allow us to fly without supervision, once we were trained enough. This is an amazing opportunity!" - Alec Fling |
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Aerospace Evolution Documentaries
You-Tube US Commercial Airline Industry History - Grayson Wolff |
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Airfoils - Nathan Hutson |
Orbital Mechanics Pioneers Comedy Sketches
"Student were organized into six research teams. Each team was assigned one of the following historical figures: Aristotle, Copericus, Brahe, Kepler, Hooke and Newton. Each student had a role; historical figure, critic, and narrator. Then the students performed a short comedy sketch in which the rest of the class was entertained while learning about what contributions each figure made to orbital mechanics and the timeline of events." - Lindsay Fox |
VEX Robotics Clawbot
"Building the Clawbot has been fun! The physical building part was pretty easy, but still enjoyable and slightly challenging. The most difficult part is programming, because so many different parts can go wrong and prevent the program from executing. I have overall really enjoyed building it and the instructions have been super helpful. The internet also has lots of tips for troubleshooting." - Cassie Mahakian |
Model Rockets
"The height of my rocket was lower then the projected height. My rocket went fairly straight, but tilted off to the right at the end. I think I veered off course because one of my fins was lower then the rest. The parachute and cord were the hardest parts to install. I thought it would launch straighter and farther up." - Justice Brunette |
Weather Balloon
"I was the media manager for this project and it was a beauty to watch, from our students, to building it, to watching it fly away. We first started by observing the building crew, then we had to design and weigh the design to make sure the mechanics and physics all worked out. We then went to the tech crew, who tried and tested the weather data collector and gps tracker. After the launch we hunted for this balloon for many hours out by DIA. After not finding it we went back home, only to be surprised by a farmer who was 39 miles south had found it!" - Caleb Kumar |
Trebuchet
"The trebuchet was such an amazing opportunity that all of us had a fun time working on. To begin, we had to start by making a CAD version of all the parts we need to make the trebuchet. We even made some sketch and our ideas in our engineering notebook. We learned how to be able to make an ionic tool that was used 4th century BC. We also learned how, in life, sometime you will have a partner that doesn’t come to “school ” or “work” to help you, and you just have to keep going no matter what life throws at you. We also had many constraints that a lot of people didn’t like." -Draven Froid |