Wright Stuff at the Science Olympiad Finals

September 2003 37
In 1933 the Jimmie Allen radio show capitalized on the
public’s interest in aviation. A year later, Junior Birdmen
of America, Inc. was a national club that gave most boys a
chance to compete in various model-flying events.
By the late 1930s, the average age of competitors in
model-flying competitions jumped from 13 years old to
older than 18 years old because of technical changes from
rubber power to gas. This may have been the era in which
the “Junior Problem” gained its foothold.
Jump ahead to 1995 to a national organization called
Science Olympiad. Much like the Junior Birdmen, Science
Olympiad has competitions for kids of middle-school and
high-school age.
While working at Midwest Products one day, I
answered a local call from a science administrator who
was looking for hands-on ideas for his class. After
handling his needs, we continued talking about what else
he might want. To my amazement, he described a need for
a flying event for a national competition, but only for
students.
“We really need to have something indoors because of
weather concerns, but the paper-airplane competition has
run its course,” he said.
“Sure, no problem,” I replied. “Why not fly rubberpowered
models for high time aloft?”
“You can’t do that; they won’t work indoors,” he
answered.
It turns out that he was an officer for Science
Olympiad (which had more than 1 million members), and
of the 23 different science events held in competition, the
aeronautics category was losing popularity.
A day later I flew a Shoebox ROG (rise-off-ground) in
Mike Ackerson of Grand Haven, Michigan, shows good form in the ROG (riseoff-
ground) launch of a Division C rubber-powered Indoor Free Flight model.
■ Chuck Markos
his “half gym” for more than a minute, and
that was all he needed to see. I soon found
myself the new national supervisor of
aeronautics, and after a couple of years of
demonstrations, lobbying, and rules
development, Wright Stuff became an official
event with Science Olympiad.
It has since become a favorite for teams in
Division B (middle school) and Division C
(high school). In 2003 Wright Stuff maintains
its popularity with students and, after being an
event for more than six years, is still flying
strong through the centennial year of powered
flight.
This year famed Free Flight competitor
Chuck Markos covered the national Science
Olympiad competition. Following is his
report.
—Tom Sanders
THE SCIENCE OLYMPIAD is as earnestly
supported in some schools as the athletic
teams are. There are two divisions: B for
middle schools and C for high schools. To
compete in the national finals—held May 10
this year in Columbus, Ohio—school teams
must go through a series of eliminations so
that only two from each division compete
from each state.
Each division has approximately 24 events,
with a limit of 15 students per school team for
competition. Elimination depends on a team’s
overall performance; winning a single event
isn’t enough to assure advancement to the
finals.
Some schools are perennial powerhouses
A local television station interviews Allison Crank and Melissa Van Cleve of
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, after a nice flight of 2:55 (2 minutes, 55 seconds).
Right: Jennifer Kirian of Solon, Ohio, used torque meter to help
take early lead in Division C. She had a 4:26 flight.
Franklin Orndorff-Plunket of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and
own-design 14-gram model made from hobby-shop materials.
38 MODEL AVIATION
September 2003 39
Allegra Feifei and Shum Jiang of Kansas City, Missouri, with a Midwest Sorcerer that
weighed just more than 8 grams. Their best times were roughly 2 minutes.
Kevin Brokish and Christina Watanuki of Fort Collins, Colorado, are shown with a Dave
Ziegler-inspired design. They had built five other models!
This lineup near the end of the day is for processing Division B competitors before they fly.
Tom Sanders originated Wright Stuff
event for Indoor models and organized
this event for Science Olympiad Finals.
Photos by the author Graphic Design by Carla Kunz
that seem to have a lock on appearances at the
finals. They have a structured process for team
selection and strong support from the
administration and parents. The team concept is
reinforced at the finals by colorful team shirts
advertising the competing school’s name.
Teams from more than 100 schools in both
divisions were present this year.
The Wright Stuff event is for rubber-powered
model airplanes with molded, commercially
available plastic propellers. The wingspan is
limited to 50 centimeters. Minimum airframe
weights are 8 grams for Division C and 10
grams for Division B. Division C models must
rise-off-ground and Division B models are hand
launched. Each division is allowed 2 grams of
rubber for motors. Models must be constructed
from wood, paper, wire, and glue.
Throughout the year, rumors had circulated
regarding the continuation of the rubberpowered
Indoor event in Science Olympiad
competition for the 2004 season. After the close
of this year’s competition, the rules committee
decided to keep Indoor Rubber on the list of
events. Following standard practice, the rules
40 MODEL AVIATION
Greg Fields and Steve Gutzmer of New Trier, Illinois, display their model, which is the
aircraft shown at the top of the first page of this article.
Matt Chalker was only Junior F1D team member to qualify for
this event. Junior World Champ Doug Shaefer is in
background.
Chris Goins of Atlanta, Georgia, has unofficial Wright Stuff record:
6:31. He is going to try out for US Junior team.
will be changed so that new models will be
required for the next season.
Other events at the Science Olympiad have
quite a bit of crossover to model-airplane
technology. The Bridge-Building event task is
to construct the lightest-weight bridge that can
support a 15-kilogram weight. Wood (usually
balsa) and glue are the only structural
components allowed. In the Bottle Rockets
event, a pressurized plastic soft-drink bottle is
partially filled with water as the propellant and
is judged by time aloft.
The Balloon Race task is to calculate the
payload required to slow the ascent of a heliumfilled
Mylar balloon to a target altitude so that it
arrives closest to a minute. However, exceeding
60 seconds results in a zero score. Robo-
Billiards uses radio control for a robotic task.
You can find detailed information about these
categories on the Science Olympiad Web site:
www.scioly.org.
The theme for the 2003 competition was
“On the Wings of Discovery,” to commemorate
the centennial year of the Wright brothers’ first
flight. Because of the theme, the Wright Stuff
took on added meaning as a central event of the
competition.
Organization of the competition was super
smooth, thanks to Tom Sanders, who was in
charge. He was ably supported by the volunteer
staff of Roy White of Saint Louis, Missouri, and
Bill Watterbury of Columbus, Ohio.
Other volunteers were Ray Harlan of
Wayland, Massachusetts; Wayne Johnson of
Chardon, Ohio; and Gene Joshu of Saint
Louis, Missouri. All three are Indoor
equipment, kit, and material suppliers.
Also in attendance were the Junior World
Champion F1D team of Ben Saks, Doug
Shaefer, and Matt Chalker. This crew got
started with Indoor models via the Science
Olympiad, then they took their skills to
unprecedented levels for Junior-age modelers
in the US. However, because of the team
concept in determining which schools will
compete in the finals, only Matt Chalker
qualified to fly in Columbus.
The basic contest format for the Wright Stuff
competition is two flights, and the longest
flight wins. Each team is given a seven-minute
window that starts when the first flight is
launched. The second flight must be launched
before the window closes.
Because of the fairly large floor area of
Ohio State University’s French Field House,
teams were allowed to “walk-in” for their
flights. This was a welcome change from
being held to a strict appearance schedule
because many of the students were competing
in other events that could have led to time
conflicts.
Three timers were assigned to each team
and the average of their watches was used to
determine the final score. (World
Championships only require two timers.)
Floor access was strictly controlled. Team
members were given wristbands for
identification. Neither adult supervisors nor
other spectators were allowed on the floor, and
communication between coaches and kids was
forbidden.
The models were mostly very high quality,
with surprisingly good performance compared
to just a few years ago when a two-minute
flight was considered the benchmark. The
improvement may be attributed to the rules not
being appreciably changed for the last two
cycles and the dedicated involvement of
experienced Indoor modelers as mentors and
coaches as they have become more aware of
the competition.
Most of the flight teams had placed high in
their respective states, but at least one was as
low as 15th place in the Wright Stuff at its
state finals.
Many of the teams had mastered the
use of a torque meter and geared winder
for getting the most out of the rubber
motors. Many had access to rubber
strippers to fine-tune the propeller/motor
combination. Precision analytical balances
(scales) were in abundance for checking
component weights.
The best models were scratch-built, but
there were also kit models. The standard design
was the Indoor “tractor” model. Several of the
models had no wing dihedral with vertical tip
plates to increase the wing efficiency and add
stability. One could observe the standard
inboard wing washin trim for Indoor models
for the majority as they flew.
The most unusual design was the Alaskan
team’s, with the wing mounted below the
motorstick and the landing gear attached to the
wing. One middle school used teamwork to
standardize its launch. The launcher lay on the
floor with the model held in launch position,
and her teammate stood 20 feet away and
indicated the correct launch attitude—like the
deck crew on an aircraft carrier.
Interviews with the students revealed that
all teams had built at least three models to find
a combination that would work for them.
Construction materials were generally
available through local hobby shops.
A big difference between this and AMA
competitions was that the scores from
completed flights were not posted so that those
who had not yet flown wouldn’t have official
knowledge of the best times. However, there
were many stopwatches at the site when each
flight was launched, so the times were
generally known.
There was some drama in Division C as
the first flight exceeding four minutes—
Jennifer Kirian’s (Solon, Ohio) 4:26—was
roughly halfway into the day. It stood for
approximately two hours, but Matt Chalker
(Centerville, Ohio) approached it closely with
a 4:23. He holds the unofficial record of 6:31
for this class of models.
Then the team from Prospect, Illinois,
put up a flight that was perfectly dialed in
to level off less than a foot from the
treacherous ceiling beams, and it landed at
4:38. That seemed good enough for those
students to repeat their win from 2002 at
the University of Delaware, but later the
team from Parkview, Georgia, managed a
5:07 to take honors. The early leader
ended up in fourth place by one second
when a 4:27 was scored late in the day. MA
Chuck Markos
655 Carlisle Ave.
Deerfield IL 60015
42 MODEL AVIATION
Division B (Top 10 places)
Place/School City/State Time
1. J.C. Booth Middle School Peachtree City, Georgia 4:03.00
2. Bearden Middle School Knoxville, Tennessee 3:49.00
3. Jefferson Middle School Valparaiso, Indiana 3:44.00
4. Dunstan Middle School Lakewood, Colorado 3:31.00
5. South Middle School Arlington Heights, Illinois 3.23.00
6. Piqua Middle School Piqua, Ohio 3:18.00
7. Chardon Middle School Chardon, Ohio 3:15.00
8. Community Middle School Plainsboro, New Jersey 3:06.00
9. Shady Side Academy Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 3:01.00
10. Rising Star Middle School Fayetteville, Georgia 3:01.00
Division C (Top 10 places)
Place/School City/State Time
1. Parkview High School Lilburn, Georgia 5:08.00
2. Prospect High School Mount Prospect, Illinois 4:38.00
3. Centerville High School Centerville, Ohio 4:26.80
4. Solon High School Solon, Ohio 4:26.10
5. Meadowcreek High School Augusta, Georgia 4:24.00
6. Mira Loma High School Sacramento, California 4:19.00
7. Prairie High School Vancouver, Washington 4:16.00
8. Troy High School Fullerton, California 3:46.53
9. Lexington High School Lexington, Massachusetts 3:46.47
10. Oak Ridge High School Oak Ridge, Tennessee 3:38.70
Science Olympiad Wright Stuff Results

September 2003 37
In 1933 the Jimmie Allen radio show capitalized on the
public’s interest in aviation. A year later, Junior Birdmen
of America, Inc. was a national club that gave most boys a
chance to compete in various model-flying events.
By the late 1930s, the average age of competitors in
model-flying competitions jumped from 13 years old to
older than 18 years old because of technical changes from
rubber power to gas. This may have been the era in which
the “Junior Problem” gained its foothold.
Jump ahead to 1995 to a national organization called
Science Olympiad. Much like the Junior Birdmen, Science
Olympiad has competitions for kids of middle-school and
high-school age.
While working at Midwest Products one day, I
answered a local call from a science administrator who
was looking for hands-on ideas for his class. After
handling his needs, we continued talking about what else
he might want. To my amazement, he described a need for
a flying event for a national competition, but only for
students.
“We really need to have something indoors because of
weather concerns, but the paper-airplane competition has
run its course,” he said.
“Sure, no problem,” I replied. “Why not fly rubberpowered
models for high time aloft?”
“You can’t do that; they won’t work indoors,” he
answered.
It turns out that he was an officer for Science
Olympiad (which had more than 1 million members), and
of the 23 different science events held in competition, the
aeronautics category was losing popularity.
A day later I flew a Shoebox ROG (rise-off-ground) in
Mike Ackerson of Grand Haven, Michigan, shows good form in the ROG (riseoff-
ground) launch of a Division C rubber-powered Indoor Free Flight model.
■ Chuck Markos
his “half gym” for more than a minute, and
that was all he needed to see. I soon found
myself the new national supervisor of
aeronautics, and after a couple of years of
demonstrations, lobbying, and rules
development, Wright Stuff became an official
event with Science Olympiad.
It has since become a favorite for teams in
Division B (middle school) and Division C
(high school). In 2003 Wright Stuff maintains
its popularity with students and, after being an
event for more than six years, is still flying
strong through the centennial year of powered
flight.
This year famed Free Flight competitor
Chuck Markos covered the national Science
Olympiad competition. Following is his
report.
—Tom Sanders
THE SCIENCE OLYMPIAD is as earnestly
supported in some schools as the athletic
teams are. There are two divisions: B for
middle schools and C for high schools. To
compete in the national finals—held May 10
this year in Columbus, Ohio—school teams
must go through a series of eliminations so
that only two from each division compete
from each state.
Each division has approximately 24 events,
with a limit of 15 students per school team for
competition. Elimination depends on a team’s
overall performance; winning a single event
isn’t enough to assure advancement to the
finals.
Some schools are perennial powerhouses
A local television station interviews Allison Crank and Melissa Van Cleve of
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, after a nice flight of 2:55 (2 minutes, 55 seconds).
Right: Jennifer Kirian of Solon, Ohio, used torque meter to help
take early lead in Division C. She had a 4:26 flight.
Franklin Orndorff-Plunket of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and
own-design 14-gram model made from hobby-shop materials.
38 MODEL AVIATION
September 2003 39
Allegra Feifei and Shum Jiang of Kansas City, Missouri, with a Midwest Sorcerer that
weighed just more than 8 grams. Their best times were roughly 2 minutes.
Kevin Brokish and Christina Watanuki of Fort Collins, Colorado, are shown with a Dave
Ziegler-inspired design. They had built five other models!
This lineup near the end of the day is for processing Division B competitors before they fly.
Tom Sanders originated Wright Stuff
event for Indoor models and organized
this event for Science Olympiad Finals.
Photos by the author Graphic Design by Carla Kunz
that seem to have a lock on appearances at the
finals. They have a structured process for team
selection and strong support from the
administration and parents. The team concept is
reinforced at the finals by colorful team shirts
advertising the competing school’s name.
Teams from more than 100 schools in both
divisions were present this year.
The Wright Stuff event is for rubber-powered
model airplanes with molded, commercially
available plastic propellers. The wingspan is
limited to 50 centimeters. Minimum airframe
weights are 8 grams for Division C and 10
grams for Division B. Division C models must
rise-off-ground and Division B models are hand
launched. Each division is allowed 2 grams of
rubber for motors. Models must be constructed
from wood, paper, wire, and glue.
Throughout the year, rumors had circulated
regarding the continuation of the rubberpowered
Indoor event in Science Olympiad
competition for the 2004 season. After the close
of this year’s competition, the rules committee
decided to keep Indoor Rubber on the list of
events. Following standard practice, the rules
40 MODEL AVIATION
Greg Fields and Steve Gutzmer of New Trier, Illinois, display their model, which is the
aircraft shown at the top of the first page of this article.
Matt Chalker was only Junior F1D team member to qualify for
this event. Junior World Champ Doug Shaefer is in
background.
Chris Goins of Atlanta, Georgia, has unofficial Wright Stuff record:
6:31. He is going to try out for US Junior team.
will be changed so that new models will be
required for the next season.
Other events at the Science Olympiad have
quite a bit of crossover to model-airplane
technology. The Bridge-Building event task is
to construct the lightest-weight bridge that can
support a 15-kilogram weight. Wood (usually
balsa) and glue are the only structural
components allowed. In the Bottle Rockets
event, a pressurized plastic soft-drink bottle is
partially filled with water as the propellant and
is judged by time aloft.
The Balloon Race task is to calculate the
payload required to slow the ascent of a heliumfilled
Mylar balloon to a target altitude so that it
arrives closest to a minute. However, exceeding
60 seconds results in a zero score. Robo-
Billiards uses radio control for a robotic task.
You can find detailed information about these
categories on the Science Olympiad Web site:
www.scioly.org.
The theme for the 2003 competition was
“On the Wings of Discovery,” to commemorate
the centennial year of the Wright brothers’ first
flight. Because of the theme, the Wright Stuff
took on added meaning as a central event of the
competition.
Organization of the competition was super
smooth, thanks to Tom Sanders, who was in
charge. He was ably supported by the volunteer
staff of Roy White of Saint Louis, Missouri, and
Bill Watterbury of Columbus, Ohio.
Other volunteers were Ray Harlan of
Wayland, Massachusetts; Wayne Johnson of
Chardon, Ohio; and Gene Joshu of Saint
Louis, Missouri. All three are Indoor
equipment, kit, and material suppliers.
Also in attendance were the Junior World
Champion F1D team of Ben Saks, Doug
Shaefer, and Matt Chalker. This crew got
started with Indoor models via the Science
Olympiad, then they took their skills to
unprecedented levels for Junior-age modelers
in the US. However, because of the team
concept in determining which schools will
compete in the finals, only Matt Chalker
qualified to fly in Columbus.
The basic contest format for the Wright Stuff
competition is two flights, and the longest
flight wins. Each team is given a seven-minute
window that starts when the first flight is
launched. The second flight must be launched
before the window closes.
Because of the fairly large floor area of
Ohio State University’s French Field House,
teams were allowed to “walk-in” for their
flights. This was a welcome change from
being held to a strict appearance schedule
because many of the students were competing
in other events that could have led to time
conflicts.
Three timers were assigned to each team
and the average of their watches was used to
determine the final score. (World
Championships only require two timers.)
Floor access was strictly controlled. Team
members were given wristbands for
identification. Neither adult supervisors nor
other spectators were allowed on the floor, and
communication between coaches and kids was
forbidden.
The models were mostly very high quality,
with surprisingly good performance compared
to just a few years ago when a two-minute
flight was considered the benchmark. The
improvement may be attributed to the rules not
being appreciably changed for the last two
cycles and the dedicated involvement of
experienced Indoor modelers as mentors and
coaches as they have become more aware of
the competition.
Most of the flight teams had placed high in
their respective states, but at least one was as
low as 15th place in the Wright Stuff at its
state finals.
Many of the teams had mastered the
use of a torque meter and geared winder
for getting the most out of the rubber
motors. Many had access to rubber
strippers to fine-tune the propeller/motor
combination. Precision analytical balances
(scales) were in abundance for checking
component weights.
The best models were scratch-built, but
there were also kit models. The standard design
was the Indoor “tractor” model. Several of the
models had no wing dihedral with vertical tip
plates to increase the wing efficiency and add
stability. One could observe the standard
inboard wing washin trim for Indoor models
for the majority as they flew.
The most unusual design was the Alaskan
team’s, with the wing mounted below the
motorstick and the landing gear attached to the
wing. One middle school used teamwork to
standardize its launch. The launcher lay on the
floor with the model held in launch position,
and her teammate stood 20 feet away and
indicated the correct launch attitude—like the
deck crew on an aircraft carrier.
Interviews with the students revealed that
all teams had built at least three models to find
a combination that would work for them.
Construction materials were generally
available through local hobby shops.
A big difference between this and AMA
competitions was that the scores from
completed flights were not posted so that those
who had not yet flown wouldn’t have official
knowledge of the best times. However, there
were many stopwatches at the site when each
flight was launched, so the times were
generally known.
There was some drama in Division C as
the first flight exceeding four minutes—
Jennifer Kirian’s (Solon, Ohio) 4:26—was
roughly halfway into the day. It stood for
approximately two hours, but Matt Chalker
(Centerville, Ohio) approached it closely with
a 4:23. He holds the unofficial record of 6:31
for this class of models.
Then the team from Prospect, Illinois,
put up a flight that was perfectly dialed in
to level off less than a foot from the
treacherous ceiling beams, and it landed at
4:38. That seemed good enough for those
students to repeat their win from 2002 at
the University of Delaware, but later the
team from Parkview, Georgia, managed a
5:07 to take honors. The early leader
ended up in fourth place by one second
when a 4:27 was scored late in the day. MA
Chuck Markos
655 Carlisle Ave.
Deerfield IL 60015
42 MODEL AVIATION
Division B (Top 10 places)
Place/School City/State Time
1. J.C. Booth Middle School Peachtree City, Georgia 4:03.00
2. Bearden Middle School Knoxville, Tennessee 3:49.00
3. Jefferson Middle School Valparaiso, Indiana 3:44.00
4. Dunstan Middle School Lakewood, Colorado 3:31.00
5. South Middle School Arlington Heights, Illinois 3.23.00
6. Piqua Middle School Piqua, Ohio 3:18.00
7. Chardon Middle School Chardon, Ohio 3:15.00
8. Community Middle School Plainsboro, New Jersey 3:06.00
9. Shady Side Academy Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 3:01.00
10. Rising Star Middle School Fayetteville, Georgia 3:01.00
Division C (Top 10 places)
Place/School City/State Time
1. Parkview High School Lilburn, Georgia 5:08.00
2. Prospect High School Mount Prospect, Illinois 4:38.00
3. Centerville High School Centerville, Ohio 4:26.80
4. Solon High School Solon, Ohio 4:26.10
5. Meadowcreek High School Augusta, Georgia 4:24.00
6. Mira Loma High School Sacramento, California 4:19.00
7. Prairie High School Vancouver, Washington 4:16.00
8. Troy High School Fullerton, California 3:46.53
9. Lexington High School Lexington, Massachusetts 3:46.47
10. Oak Ridge High School Oak Ridge, Tennessee 3:38.70
Science Olympiad Wright Stuff Results