MAAA Wingspan - Quarterly Magazine

17 YEAR 11 STUDENTS GLIDE WITH DELTA DARTS HELPING SCHOOLS EMBRACE THE SKILLS AND THRILLS OF AVIATION As part of a fun school assessment, eighteen Year 11 students fromSt Patrick’s College inMackaywere asked to momentarily put down their schoolbooks to get hands-on with delta dart glidermodels. Their taskwas to build andmodify these (MAAA-donated) rubber band-powered aircraft to achievemaximumflight time. “It’s an important assessment because it gives the students the fundamentals in terms of the forces of flight,” said aerospace teacher Edward Keogh. “They built the originalmodels first, thenmodified themby making thewings larger or adding extra rubber bands to give themmore power.” During the testing stage, the students overcame obstacles such as crash landings, brokenwings, trees and buildings. Obstructions aside, an impressive record flight time of over thirty secondswas achieved. “After a few failed attemptswith the occasional plane flying into the large tree inour grounds, a successful flight pathwas established for themajority of students,” continued Edward. “They just really enjoyed seeing howdifferentmodifications changed the flight and the assessment wasmore hands-on and exciting for the students.” The delta dart gliderswere donated free to the college as part of theMAAA education committee’s drive tohelp schools and other educational facilitators in the quest of aviation.