We had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with kids at the Greater Stark County Urban League where we teamed up with Time Warner Cable's Connect a Million Minds program and held a workshop on aircraft control surfaces.
We went over some basics of how control surfaces allow an airplane to maneuver in the air.
We thought the kids would be able to understand control surfaces better using our custom made simulator chair!
With a leaf blower attached (to push air over the rudder) a foot peddle connected to the rudder would turn the simulator chair in the same way an actual aircraft that has a foot peddle rudder system.
After everyone had a chance to take the simulator chair for a spin we set out to work with the kids and help them build some hand launch gliders!
Connect a Million Minds volunteers helped us work with the kids as we put together the speed build gliders.
The FT speed build kits really helped us with this workshop and it was great to see kids of all ages assembling their very own airplanes!
The gliders were modified FT Flyer's setup without custom fuselage that had some machine nuts held in place with barbecue skewers.
These customized FT Flyer's also gave us a chance to teach the kids about CG.
Once everyone had their gliders ready to go, we sent them to the gym to test them out!
Afterwards we recapped on what we learned and answered questions the kids had.
Finally, on a buddy box setup, we gave the kids a chance to fly ParkZone Night Vapor RC Airplanes, where they had the chance to get hands-on experience flying RC airplanes for the first time!
We'd like to thank Vince Watts and everyone at the Greater Stark County Urban League for their help with this workshop. Special thanks for Joe Richardson and Time Warner Cable for the opportunity to be involved with the Connect a Million Minds program.
Check out additional photos and join in on the discussion in the forum post HERE.
Additional information on Flight Control Surfaces can be found HERE.
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