First, we brought our project plane home to the barn at our base at the Succop Conservancy. The trip out to Iowa and back took two days as it's 13 hours each way but the drive was well worth it. We now have a complete airframe for a Fisher Flying Products FP-101 ultralight thanks to Bill Russell of Central City, IA whose generosity will go a long way to building enthusiasm for general aviation with our Venture Crew members. It's the dead of winter now and we're still finishing our 1940 Case farm tractor restoration but the whole Crew is itching to get started on the plane. It won't be long now until the weather warms enough to start on the Fisher!
Second, in November we became aware of a major engineering design contest for youth and decided to enter as a non-school-based team. The Real World Design Challenge (www.realworlddesignchallenge.org) is a contest sponsored by business, academia, and the government that seeks to engage young people in solving real world engineering problems using state of the art tools and methodologies. This year's Challenge involved designing a tail configuration for a business jet and I'm very pleased to report that our little Venture Crew 50 team of 3 high schoolers completed the Challenge. They used structural analysis, fluid dynamic, and CAD/solid modeling tools to design a unique tail for a business jet. They did a great job and learned quite a lot in the process. Their entry is now being judged at the state level and we'll know on February 8 if we'll be moving on to the national level of the Challenge. Wish us luck!
I'll try and make an effort to post more regularly once we get into the restoration of the FP-101. Until then, I'll leave you with a CGI rendering of the plane designed by our Venture Crew for the Real World Design Challenge.
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