The 2008 BMFA Children's Flight Challenge
John Grimson Reports from the 2008 Children’s Flight Challenge.
"On 28th June at 7am I was in the driving seat of the school minibus with six boys and two of their dads as passengers, on my way to Duxford to compete in the Children’s Flight Challenge.
It all started about 18 months ago. I had taken a part time retirement job as a technician in the Technology department of the local secondary school, largely to finance my radio control habit. After a few weeks there a piece of paper with a note on it was handed to me. The note read “This looks like it might be up your street” and the piece of paper was the flyer for the Flight Challenge 2007. Like many other radio flyers, I suspect, I knew nothing about the Flight Challenge, and it was a long time ago that I made planes out of balsa and tissue and powered them with elastic bands, but I agreed to give it a go.
Suddenly I had a group of about a dozen Year 7 boys, first formers to oldies like me, some of whom had some experience with Airfix kits and some had electric flying toys, but none had any experience of balsa and tissue building. Over the next few weeks they all built and flew BMFA Darts, some built BMFA Helicopters and some built own design gliders.
For the competition a team of six must fly a Dart, a Helicopter and a glider (own design representing a British aircraft) in rotation for half an hour, with a maximum of 20 flights for each aircraft type. Points are awarded for total time in the air. The team selected itself as some fell by the wayside and others became interested in the different aircraft types.
We went to Duxford last year not really knowing what to expect, but if nothing else we would enjoy a visit to the museum. I had gone as far as I was able to get good flight duration, but the black arts of indoor flying were unknown to me. We signed in and two time keepers were assigned to my team, but these were not just timekeepers, they set about helping the boys to get the best possible performance out of their aircraft.
When our competition slot arrived there was frenzied activity for thirty minutes as Darts and Helicopters were wound up and they and the gliders were launched in sequence, and they just managed to complete the twenty flights in the allotted time. For me it was very satisfying to watch these six boys, who usually seemed to find it hard to stay focussed for more than about five minutes, working together as a team towards a common goal. I’m sure that experience alone will serve them well.
Gyminnie winner - Lingyi Yang
At the end of the day, after everyone else had flown in their classes and we had had an all too short wander around the exhibits, Manny Williamson read out the results and the looks on their faces when they heard that they were second in their age grouping made it all worthwhile.
This year we returned to Duxford with three of the 2007 team and three new Year 7s, so this year competing in the Senior league rather that the Junior league as last year. It was the same experience as last year with the timekeepers helping the boys, but this time we had one of the international indoor team helping with the trimming as well. They got second again, but this time they were beaten by an Air Cadet Squadron team, so they weren’t too disappointed!
I have learnt a lot, the boys have learnt a lot, and maybe I have introduced them to a hobby that they will continue with, but without a doubt we have all had a lot of fun, and I would recommend any aero-modeller to get involved if the opportunity arises."
Read Stuart Taylor's report...