Wright Stuff at the Science Olympiad Finals
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 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 rubber-powered models for longest time aloft?”
“You can’t do that; they won’t work indoors,” he answered.
It turned 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 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 maintained its popularity with students and, after being an event for more than six years, was 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
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 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.
Wright Stuff event details
The Wright Stuff event is for rubber-powered model airplanes with molded, commercially available plastic propellers. Key rules and specifications include:
- Maximum wingspan: 50 centimeters.
- Minimum airframe weight: 8 grams for Division C, 10 grams for Division B.
- Division C models must rise-off-ground (ROG); 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.
Event status and related Science Olympiad categories
Throughout the year, rumors had circulated regarding the continuation of the Indoor Rubber 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 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:
- Bridge-Building: construct the lightest-weight bridge that can support a 15-kilogram weight. Wood (usually balsa) and glue are the only structural components allowed.
- Bottle Rockets: a pressurized plastic soft-drink bottle partially filled with water is used as the propellant; judged by time aloft.
- Balloon Race: calculate the payload required to slow the ascent of a helium-filled Mylar balloon to a target altitude so that it arrives closest to one minute. Exceeding 60 seconds results in a zero score.
- Robo-Billiards: uses radio control for a robotic task.
Detailed information about these categories is available on the Science Olympiad web site: www.scioly.org.
2003 competition theme and organization
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:
- Roy White, Saint Louis, Missouri
- Bill Watterbury, Columbus, Ohio
- Ray Harlan, Wayland, Massachusetts
- Wayne Johnson, Chardon, Ohio
- Gene Joshu, Saint Louis, Missouri
All three of the first volunteers listed 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 U.S. However, because of the team concept in determining which schools will compete in the finals, only Matt Chalker qualified to fly in Columbus.
Contest format and procedures
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.
Models, techniques, and observations
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 or 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 had been 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, instead using vertical tip plates to increase wing efficiency and add stability. One could observe the standard inboard wing wash-in 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 motor-stick 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 a 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.
Scoring and final results
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 later in the day.
—Chuck Markos 655 Carlisle Ave. Deerfield, IL 60015
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
