Building and flying a model aircraft

At our school there is a wide range of clubs that run before school, at lunch times, and after school. These clubs include: handicraft, animation, bug, gardening, showstoppers, netball and football.

In one of these clubs we build and fly a model aircraft.

We start with instructions, plans, strips of balsa wood, a plastic propeller and a length of rubber.

We then follow the instructions to gradually build the model aircraft using a craft knife and glue. This takes several lunch times.

Once the aircraft are ready we take them to the school hall, wind up the propeller (50 turns to start with) and launch them. Sometimes they fly well straight away, but usually we need to trim them by adjusting the rudder and/or elevator and/or adding weight to the nose or tail. Once trimmed, we wind the propeller 75 turns, and the aircraft fly the full length of the hall. There are usually a few crashes as well!