Our Journey with Cardboard, Motorized Airplanes

We’re excited to share the latest updates on our airplane design project! After weeks of planning, building, and testing, our students recently took their creations outside to test how well they perform in real-world conditions. Flying a plane is more than just building it — it’s about understanding the complex forces at work that allow it to stay in the air. Today, we’ll dive into the science of aerodynamics and how we’re applying it to our cardboard motorized airplanes.

The Forces of Flight: What Keeps a Plane in the Air?
When an airplane takes flight, four key forces interact to keep it aloft and guide its movement. These forces are:

Lift – Lift is the upward force that counteracts gravity and allows the plane to rise into the sky. It’s generated by the wings as air flows over and under them, creating a pressure difference. For our student-designed planes, the shape and angle of the wings play a huge role in generating lift.

Weight – Weight is the force pulling the airplane toward the ground, due to gravity. The key to successful flight is balancing weight with lift, making sure the plane has enough upward force to overcome its own mass.

Thrust – Thrust is the forward force that propels the plane through the air. For our motorized airplanes, thrust is generated by the small motors attached to the planes, which drive the propellers and push the plane forward.

Drag – Drag is the resistance the plane faces as it moves through the air. It’s caused by friction and air turbulence. Minimizing drag is crucial for efficient flight, which is why the shape of the plane — especially the wings and body — matters so much.

Controlling Flight: The Role of Flaps and Fins
In addition to the basic forces of flight, airplanes are equipped with control surfaces that help adjust the airflow around the plane and steer it through the sky. These include flaps and fins, which are crucial for fine-tuning flight performance.

Flaps: Flaps are hinged surfaces on the wings that can be extended or retracted to change the amount of lift generated by the wings. When extended, they increase the curvature of the wing, creating more lift — but they also increase drag. This is particularly useful for takeoff and landing, when a plane needs more lift at slower speeds.

Fins: The vertical stabilizers (or fins) on the wings of the plane helps maintain stability and control. By adjusting the angle of the fins, the plane can control yaw — the side-to-side movement of the plane. This helps the plane stay on course and makes it easier to turn, or fly straight, without losing control.

Through these adjustments, pilots can manage the flow of air over the plane, fine-tuning its performance and keeping the forces of flight in balance.

Testing in Real Conditions
Taking the planes outside to test them in an open space with uncontrolled conditions presents its own challenges. Unlike the predictable conditions of a wind tunnel, real-world tests involve dealing with variable wind speeds, shifting air currents, and obstacles. Some of our student planes performed exceptionally well, demonstrating excellent lift and controlled flight. Others had to be adjusted and refined, as slight imbalances in weight, thrust, or wing shape led to interesting — and sometimes amusing — results.

The hands-on experience of testing these planes outside has been invaluable. It’s one thing to design a plane on paper, but it’s another to see how it reacts to real-world forces. The iterative process of testing and adjusting teaches the students not only about the science of aerodynamics but also the importance of problem-solving and resilience in engineering.

Moving Forward: The Big Aerodynamics Project
With the initial testing phase complete, we're gearing up for our next big challenge: creating cardboard, motorized airplanes. This project will allow us to explore aerodynamics in greater depth, experimenting with different materials, wing shapes, and motor configurations. As we continue to refine our designs, we’ll delve deeper into how changes to the structure and control surfaces can affect the flight performance, all while applying the principles of lift, weight, thrust, and drag.

We’re looking forward to seeing how our students tackle these new challenges and gain a deeper understanding of the forces at work in the skies. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue our journey in the world of flight.