On Thursday, June 6th, the Seattle SFTE Chapter held its 9th annual STEM outreach dinner event at Raisbeck Aviation High School in Tukwila, WA.
The Seattle Chapter has had a close relationship with this school for many years by providing judges, guest speakers, and advisors to the faculty for their aviation-related student projects. The ninth-grade students participated in a ten-week flight test project that used takeoff flight testing as a backdrop to understanding physics concepts such as Newton’s Laws, and both the Kinematic and Lift equations. Students used the desktop flight simulator XPlane to conduct takeoff testing of several airplane models. Variables such as gross weight, flap setting, temperature, wind, etc., were manipulated to determine their effect on takeoff distance.
The event started with several student groups lined up at tables in the event room with posters of their presentations. SFTE members and families mingles and listened to student explanations and test results. The members were quite impressed with the level of understanding exhibited by the students and the students were thrilled that professional flight test engineers took an interest in the project. After dinner, one lucky student group presented their test to all the attendees.
The featured speaker for the evening was Tom Sanderson, a flight test engineer with the Boeing Company, who gave a presentation on Sustainability in Aviation. Boeing and other OEMs are testing a number of interesting technologies in the pursuit of reducing carbon emissions. The students were particularly interested in this topic as they had just completed a project on climate change mitigation strategies.
See the pictures below of this entertaining and educational event.
