In the previous AEROFAIR 2014 and 2015 programs conducted at the USM Engineering Campus, participants learned about indoor flight in short half-day workshops before competing in flying tournaments. The workshops did train the participants to build the planes on their own, but were insufficient to allow them time to experiment with the planes’ design parameters to improve their flights.
In AEROFAIR 2016, we aim to enhance students’ experience with indoor flight by bringing these activities to their schools, instead of a one-off half-day workshop conducted at USM. We the organizers will provide each participating school with the materials and equipment needed to build indoor planes so they can carry out these learning activities (understanding, constructing, and experimenting with indoor planes) at their schools over a longer period of time prior to the flying competition event. These materials and equipment, costing more than RM400, will be provided for FREE to the schools.
The videos below are good starting points to know what indoor flight is about. The main aim with the rubber-band powered indoor flight is to fly the plane as long as possible…
We have also prepared a few documents to guide students build their own indoor planes based on a simple design called “Double Whammy” that should fly for about 1-3 minutes. FYI, a single flight of an indoor plane in international competitions can fly for more than 30 – 40 minutes. You can use our documents below to help you understand more about the basics of aerospace science behind indoor flight and start building your own indoor planes:
- A Module on Indoor Flight (27 October 2015, updated 21 June 2016)
- A Short Manual on Indoor Plane Design (20 May 2015)
- Our tutorial video on how to make a simple indoor plane (21 September 2014).
You can also read more about indoor flight from our previous AEROFAIR programs by clicking our collection of posts about indoor flight in this website, or learn more on your own about indoor flight by searching on the internet using these keywords as a start: