Wings of Hope Hosts Fall SOAR Into STEM Session 3: Navigation, Flight Simulation and More!

By Carmelo Turdo

SOAR Into STEM Fall Session 3 was held on Saturday, October 29, in the Wings of Hope World Headquarters hangar at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. This week's theme was Navigation and Flight Simulation, with a Halloween twist! Dressed in their costumes, the students completed a flight planning exercise, flew the desktop flight simulators and completed the tether flight project they began in the last session. The session was led by Wings of Hope Education Coordinator, Robert Powell, with help from volunteer mentors and Wings of Hope staff throughout the day.

The students entered the decorated hangar and were greeted by mentors in costume. The first fun and educational activity involved creating a flying pumpkin using the principles learned in Aircraft Mechanics and Engineering Session 2. Some creative designs were put forth, incorporating the necessary stability, weight and balance and structural integrity aspects of practical aircraft construction. Here we feature several examples of pumpkin planes along with the Halloween hangar decor.

(Patrick Bowen photo)

(Patrick Bowen photo)

(Patrick Bowen photo)

(Patrick Bowen photo)

The students rotated through three activities in the afternoon hours. Some resumed construction of their standard balsa wood, rubber band-powered aircraft and attached them to a tether line from a stationary post. The object was to measure the distance flown as a factor of the circuits passing a fixed observation point. Several trials were made, each with a different number of turns to the rubber band powering the aircraft and some with weights attached. This activity illustrates the effects of structure, weight and balance, and propulsion.

Another activity in the rotation was a navigation exercise that involved reading aeronautical charts and plotting a course using scale maps. A scavenger hunt exercise helped to organize the process of learning chart symbology, and the SOAR Into STEM mentors were available to assist in the process.

The third activity for the students was the desktop flight simulator station. Many types of aircraft, from the Piper Cub to the F-35, were flown using the knowledge gained from the previous sessions on flight controls and aircraft structures.

Session 4 of SOAR Into STEM will focus on uncrewed aerial vehicles and will be held at STEAM Academy in Ferguson, MO.