Warden Park Academy 'Enrichment' Days 8 - 9 Jul 19

Following  the  successful  enrichment  day at Warden Park Academy in Cuckfield in 2018 by BMFA SE Chairman Stuart Willis, Rob S and Graham U  we were asked to run the same course this year but because of the demand from the students it had to be split over 2 days with approximately 20 per day.  With the number last year at 19 it was quite hard work keeping control of the groups so we decided that we needed another BMFA member to help us out this year, so Rob enlisted the help of Scott.
 We started the first day with 4 BMFA members, 1 teacher and a classroom assistant and 22 students and the second day was 4 BMFA members, 1 teacher and a one-to-one helper for one of the students plus 13 other students.

The agenda for this year was much as last time, the idea was to build and fly the BMFA Dart – one per student. Stuart Willis opened the day by explaining what we were going to do and then he went on to explain the functions of the BMFA and the basic different types of aircraft we fly. We had examples of different models on display for the students to see including a large IC plane, an EDF jet, an electric heli, a couple of multirotors and a glider. Stuart also explained about the different types of power source and passed round some electric motors for the class to see. He reminded the class that a rubber band was also a motor and that’s what we would be using on the day for the BMFA Darts. Following on Stuart explained the health and safety aspects especially with respect to the scalpels and the glue plus there was a short video about the origins of aircraft.

We then each took a group of 4 or 5 students and started on the Darts, with only a 20 minute break during the morning, by 12:00 they were pretty much all complete except for the props and rubber motors. During the lunch break we checked every model and made sure everything was ready for flying in the afternoon. After their lunch, the students put on the props and rubber motors and we were ready.

Stuart had made a modification to the Darts for this year, by 3D printing a wing support for the leading edge. This gave much better gluing capability for the dihedral and great support for the wing during flight, whereby we had far fewer wings folding up during flight than last year.

The flying was organized into small groups test gliding indoors to sort out their trim and C of G, followed by outdoor flying for the rest of the afternoon on the playing fields.  Every model was a success in that it flew well and the students were all very happy that their efforts had resulted in such a great little model.

At the end of the flying the students were shown another video and then took part in a short ‘quiz’ based on what they should have learned during the day. Finally Stuart gave out 3 certificates to the students we considered had made the most of the opportunity during the day with the ‘gold’ certificate also receiving a VMC Pilot kit to build.

Rob Stanley