MASSEY — The air museum here concluded its one-week summer course titled “Grassroots Aviation Engineering” on July 19 at the Massey Aerodrome.
The students were from Bohemia Manor High School in Cecil County, public schools in Delaware, First State Military Academy in Clayton, Delaware and the Middletown (Delaware) Civil Air Patrol Squadron.
In past years, students from public schools in Kent and Queen Anne’s counties had enrolled.
Currently, due to limitations of time, space and personnel, only six students at a time are accepted into the program.
All six students in the Class of 2024 “graduated” and received a Certificate of Achievement.
They are: David J. Everson III of Smyrna (Delaware) High School and Daniel Paul Racine of Bohemia Manor High School, members of the Middletown Civil Air Patrol Squadron; Alex Armstrong and Mason Rawley of Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Delaware; and Michael Cowell and Gavin Thompson of First State Military Academy.
The course is offered at no cost to area high school-age students who may be considering a career in aviation — as a pilot, a technician or an engineer. Course subjects include aerodynamics; aircraft components and structures; sheet metal and fabric covering; machine shop practice; electrical systems; flight planning; and navigation.
Each student received two airplane flights, one in a Piper Arrow (four place, cabin light aircraft) and one in a Stearman biplane (open cockpit, tandem seat, World War II military trainer).
The Piper flight experience included an engineering problem-solving exercise.
On the final day, each student flew a rubber band-powered model aircraft that they had built from scratch under the direction of instructor Larry Folsom. He explained how to tweak the planes for maximum flight duration based on each student’s test flights, and then a timed competition was held.
The best of the model airplanes achieved a flight duration of nearly one minute in the competition.
Each student also built and launched a model rocket that, at its apogee, would eject a parachute-equipped capsule containing a raw egg. The goal was to retrieve the raw egg without it cracking.
Five of the six eggs survived without cracking, according to the program instructors.
