AMA Offers Resources For This STEM Effort

The National Free Flight Society (NFFS) has teamed with Science Olympiad to sponsor and support the Indoor Flying Events. 

Free flight model airplanes follow the wind and soar in rising thermal currents of warm air. They set their own course and are free of any control from the ground. If you have ever tossed a folded paper airplane or a dime store balsa glider, you have flown a free flight model in its most basic form.

Free flight models are of two basic types: those that are flown indoors, and those that are flown outdoors. Indoor models are very light, slow flying models powered by twisted rubber strips driving a large propeller. Hand launched gliders and gliders catapulted into the air by a loop of rubber strip are also flown indoors. They are flown in school gymnasiums, auditoriums and similar large open spaces. Indoor models are one of the least expensive and simplest ways to get started in modeling, and suitable flying sites are available in most locations.

Founded in 1984, Science Olympiad is a scholastic competition encompassing a broad range of science disciplines. Students compete in a range of events including test-only, laboratory, and prebuilt events. 

AMA has participated in past Science Olympiads and offers AMA members resources and connections to engage with this important STEM program, such as this indoor-launch catapult glider plan and directions from 2015.  

FMI: www.amaflightschool.org/diy/how-build-indoor-catapult-launch-glider-science-olympiad