GAMA/Build A Plane competition opens for high schools

Schools can register through Jan. 20, 2017, to enter the competition. According to the GAMA website, all registrants will receive free “Fly to Learn” curricula that teachers will use to “guide students through the science of flight and airplane design,” using flight simulation software powered by X-Plane. Schools will complete the curricula in about six weeks and “will apply what they have learned by modifying the design of an airplane.”

GAMA said that schools “will then compete in a virtual fly-off that will be scored on aerodynamic and performance parameters.”

The winning school, chosen by a panel of judges from GAMA, will receive a complimentary trip for up to four students, one teacher, and one chaperone to experience general aviation manufacturing firsthand, GAMA said.

Additional details, including deadlines and application, are available online.

The 2016 winners hailed from Weyauwega-Fremont High School in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. Their design beat out 75 other high schools, and the students built a two-seat Glasair Sportsman at the company’s Arlington, Washington, headquarters.