Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/449720
8 Vol.4 No.1 / Januar y 2015 FLIGHTLINE THE GENERAL AVIATION Manufacturers Association and Build A Plane have part- nered for a third year to sponsor the GAMA/Build A Plane Aviation Design Challenge. The challenge seeks to pro- mote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education through aviation in high schools across the United States. GAMA will provide the fi rst 100 teachers who enter the competition with Fly to Learn curriculum for their class- rooms, as well as fi ve complimentary copies of airplane design and simulation software powered by X-Plane. The les- son plans can be used to teach the basics of aerospace engineering and design. Students will learn to apply their knowl- edge to modify and fl y their own virtual airplane in a fl y-of . The competition is free to enter. Reg- istration is open until February 13, 2015, or until the fi rst 100 schools register. Each school's team must have four students to be eligible for the competition. Each team must include at least one male student and at least one female student. Teachers interested in participating in the contest will fi nd complete rules and an application form online at http:// www.gama.aero/advocacy/aviation-edu- cation/stem . Only one teacher per school will be accepted. GAMA/Build A Plane Challenge SONEX AIRCRAFT SURPASSED 500 fl ying airplanes after Christopher Madsen of Huntsville, Alabama, made the fi rst fl ight in his AeroVee-powered Sonex taildragger on September 23, 2014. The fi rst customer-built Sonex fl ew on June 2, 2000. "I'm extremely pleased with the performance and the economy and am enjoying the adventures I've had in the 22 hours I've fl own so far," said Madsen, who also participated in the company's T-Flight Transition Training program in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which at last count served 115 builders. T-Flight increases availability of type-specifi c transition training in experimental aircraft in response to safety initiatives from the FAA and NTSB, as well as EAA and the Aircraft Kit Industry Association (AKIA). Sonex CEO Jeremy Monnett was elected AKIA president at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014. Sonex Reports 500th Completion MICRO AERODYNAMICS celebrated its 25th anniversary in fall 2014—a milestone in itself—but the company also marked another by ship- ping its 19,000th STC-approved Micro VG kit. If you included spare and replacement parts for aircraft previously equipped with the modifi cation, the number soars past two million vortex genera- tors shipped throughout the world in a quarter century. The Anacortes, Washington, company has 75 supplemental type certifi cates that allow Micro VG retrofi ts on a total of 750 aircraft types. Vortex generators are tiny aluminum pieces with a quarter- inch high vertical fi n arrayed across the upper leading edge of the wing and sometimes along both sides of the vertical tail and beneath the trailing edge of the horizontal stabilizer. In fl ight, the generators cause the airfl ow to develop tiny tornadoes that keep the boundary layer attached to the wing, rudder, or elevator at higher angles of attack, reducing stall speed in the process. This allows aileron control even when the wing is stalled. Micro AeroDynamics Marks Two Milestones Photography courtesy of Sonex LLC