Millstadt School Here are the final flights of all of the Millstadt eighth grade teams:

Name(s)	Distance
Anna and Julie	2.3 m
Katie and Nathan	2.3 m
Jill	1 m
Heather	3 m
Michael and Kristen	0.5 m
Jenna and Lindsey	2.8 m
Chrissy and Shaun	7 m
Frank and Philip	3.7 m
Amanda and Amy	6.85 m
Katie	5.5 m
Tim	5.3 m
Josh and Carter	5.5 m
Jerry and Casie	4m
Ali and Ryan	3.5m
Chris and Emilie	2.5m
Paige and Lauren	3m
Amy and Jenny	2.1m
Mike and Alex	7m
Jen and Megan	10.6 m
Matt and Jimmy	10.61 m
Jennifer and Cara	2.41 m
Mandie and Preston	3.9 m
Darren and Eric	10.5 m
Lester and Stacy	1.24 m
Shaun and Brandon	6.5 m
Rene and Ashley	6 m
Andrea and Eric	0.82 m
Matt and Rose	9.5 m
Beth and John	9.2 m
James and Brittany	3 m
Bobby and Nick	8.9 m
Kasia and Renee	-1 m
Daniel and Stewart	6.51 m
Jenn and Kyle	5 m
Sarina and Amber	1 m

Our launches were by rubber band launcher, at a 45 degree angle, indoors.
All flights with the flawed glider went less than 2 m except one: Due to a gravity shift while the glue was drying, the wings were glued at an angle, giving the plane an increased angle of incidence. That plane went 5 m on its first flights.

Some of the students still had difficulty getting their planes to stop looping. These difficulties were evidenced in the 2 meter or less flights. We've saved those planes, and our glider expert (Gene Joshu, an experienced airplane modeler) will be in to help us analyze them to find out why they didn't fly.

We had a fly-off between Chrissy and Shaun, Matt and Jimmy, and Matt and Rose. Chrissy and Shaun won with a final distance of 10.5 m; that's the plane we're sending to Denver. (As soon as its fuselage is rebuilt. Ooops!)

For assessment, the students (they worked in pairs) were required to hand in a report that included the following elements:
   Sketches of their preliminary ideas.
   Sketches of their final idea, two views.
   Assembly sketch of final model, with metric measurements, to scale.
   Report of the test flights.
   Report of the flight competition.
   Technical report that describes how they used aerodynamics to enhance their plane's flight time.

They were also required to complete a test similar to Dave Carson's, identifying parts of the plane, matching terms to definitions, and completing an essay question that had them describe how Bernoulli's principle and the shape of a wing cause flight.

In addition, every other year we have our local experts in airplane modeling come in and give a demonstration. Roy White and Gene Joshu have competed in indoor competitions with their rubber band powered models for years. Since they have just finished doing their best to make a plane that stays in the air for seconds, the students are awed when Roy puts one of his ornithopters in the air for minutes. Some years, when time allows, Gene and Roy help the kids build rubber band-powered planes of their own.

We hope to send pictures of our planes shortly, as soon as we get our digital camera to participate.

Kathy Costello