Welcome to AEROFAIR 2015

Update 30/4/2015: Please read this post on the completion and outcomes of AEROFAIR 2015.

The School of Aerospace Engineering USM is once again organizing another series of our AEROFAIR outreach program this year. Our program is financially supported by the Penang Education Council of the Penang Institute, the School of Aerospace Engineering USM, and a USM grant on outreach program. Our program has been approved by Jabatan Pendidikan Pulau Pinang. The approval letter from JPPP is attached.

The theme of this year's program is "Flying Gracefully with Indoor Flight".

OBJECTIVES:
The main aim of our AEROFAIR Program is to promote science and engineering to secondary school students through exciting aerospace engineering activities. Our program is open to all secondary school students in Pulau Pinang from Forms 1 to 5.

We also want to encourage the use of English in learning science through this program, which is why our program content in this blog is written in English. The rational behind this is that English is the international language of science. In addition, most resources and reading materials about indoor flight on the web are available in English only. There are also other benefits that an Indoor Flight program can offer.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
All secondary schools in Pulau Pinang can apply to participate in this program. Each school can send a maximum of 2 teams, with each team consisting of 5 students and 1 teacher. Further details of the application procedure can be read here. The deadline to send the application form is on Friday, 3 April 2015. You can also check the list of schools that will participate in AEROFAIR 2015.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
AEROFAIR 2015 will be conducted on Saturday 25 April 2015, from 8 am to 5 pm, at Dewan Utama, Kampus Kejuruteraan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang. The program is divided into the Workshop session in the morning and the Flying Competition session in the afternoon.

Update 15/4/2015: We have rearranged the original schedule so that the Opening Ceremony will be conducted before the Flying Competition, which is the main event. The detailed schedule can be obtained here. The brief schedule is:

08:00 – 08:30 am: Registration and Breakfast at Dewan Utama
08:30 – 08:45 am: Doa, Program Introduction, and Program Briefing.
08:45 – 09:00 am: Group Photo
09:00 – 10:45 am: Workshop Phase 1: Construction of Parts and Assembly
10:45 - 11.00 am: Break
11:00 – 12:30 pm: Workshop Phase 2: Flight Tests and Perfecting Constructions
12:00 - 12:30 pm: Arrival of VIP Guests
12:30 – 02:00 pm: Lunch Break and Zuhur Prayer
02:00 – 02:30 pm: Opening Ceremony
02:30 – 03:45 pm: Flying Competitions
03:45 – 04:00 pm: Program Assessment and Surveys
04:00 – 04:30 pm: Award Ceremony
04:30 – 05:00 pm: Tea Break

AEROFAIR 2014:
Last year, for AEORFAIR 2014, we organized 3 activities: Indoor Flight, Airframe Modeling, and Water Rocket. We had about 54 teams (each consisting of 4 students and 1 teacher) from secondary schools in Pulau Pinang participated in last year's program, totaling up to about 270 participants. You can read more about our last year's program in our Aerofair Bulletin 2014. The winners of the AEROFAIR 2014 competitions are listed here. Top winners received remote-controlled quadcopters equipped with videocameras to bring back to their schools!

AEROFAIR 2015:
As is obvious with this year's theme, "Flying Gracefully with Indoor Flights", AEROFAIR 2015 will focus on Indoor Flight. Based on our last year's experience, we need to improve on the Indoor Flight activities to see more successful flights during the competition. For the record, Indoor Flight is still new in Malaysia (our last year's program on Indoor Flight was the first time ever in Malaysia). Please read on to know more about our Indoor Flight activities in AEROFAIR 2015.

For the workshop session during the event day, we have prepared "A Short Manual on Indoor Plane Design".

AEROSPACE CLUBS AT SCHOOLS
At AEROFAIR 2015, we also want to promote secondary schools to establish Aerospace Clubs (or Aerospace Divisions in their existing Science Clubs). If your secondary school would like to start an Aerospace Club, or a Science Club with aerospace activities in it, read more about it in this post about how this can be done.

Update 23/4/2015: We have accepted applications from 42 teams from 26 schools, consisting of 210 students (from Forms 1-5) and 35 teachers. The AEROFAIR organizing team consists of 34 staffs from the Schools of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and 52 students from the School of Aerospace Engineering.

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Ucapan Terima Kasih

Assalamualaikum dan Salam Sejahtera,

Kepada semua AJK dan Fasilitator AEROFAIR 2015,

Hari Utama AEROFAIR 2015 makin hampir iaitu pada Sabtu minggu ini 25/4/2015, dari 8 pagi hingga 5 petang. Saya berharap kita semua dapat hadir sepenuh masa dari awal untuk memberi sumbangan dalam bentuk buah fikiran, tenaga, dan masa pada hari tersebut. Paling utama sekali ialah sumbangan kita dari segi "intangibles" iaitu dalam bentuk keikhlasan, semangat, keseronokan, dan keharmonian dalam berkerja bersama-sama. Kehadiran diri masing-masing untuk program ini bukan sahaja penting untuk diri masing-masing, yang akan dikira dalam bentuk MyCPD atau MyCSD, tetapi juga bagi yang lain. Ini kerana keramaian kita sebagai AJK dan fasilitator yang hadir akan memeriahkan lagi suasana bagi mereka yang hadir sebagai peserta. Dan majlis yang meriah bagi peserta akan meningkatkan lagi semangat, usaha dan keberkesanan mereka di dalam program pembelajaran yang telah kita sediakan.

Saya harap kita semua dapat melaksanakan tugasan kita untuk program ini dengan sebaiknya, kerana program yang kita jalankan bertujuan memberi peluang dan masa depan yang lebih cerah kepada anak-anak/adik-adik muda kita. Mungkin impak program ini pada kita sendiri sangat kecil dari segi KPI/SKT/LPP, tapi nilai ilmunya kepada peserta kita berkemungkinan memberi kesan sepanjang hayat mereka. Dalam konteks ini, berapalah sangat nilai KPI yang zahir hanya pada mata kasar berbanding dengan kesan mendalam yang dapat kita corakkan sepanjang hayat? Tidak mustahil kalau ada di antara peserta kita yang terus mengubah pelan perancangan masa depan ke arah sesuatu yang mengagumkan hanya kerana program ini, dan itu yang kita usahakan dan harapkan. Dan nilainya tak terhingga, walaupun hanya seorang yang terkesan sebegini.

Program AEROFAIR yang khusus kepada Indoor Flight ini adalah yang pertama kali akan dijalankan di Malaysia di dalam bentuk yang sangat terperinci sebegini. Untuk ini saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih khususnya kepada Biro Bengkel dan Pertandingan yang di terajui oleh En. Haniff Junos dan En. Amir Wahab yang telah banyak berusaha untuk menyediakan modul pembelajaran Indoor Flight; menambahbaik rekabentuk dan proses pembuatan pesawat dari yang asal; dan melatih fasilitator sukarelawan yang terdiri dari lebih 50 pelajar Kejuruteraan Aeroangkasa dan hampir 10 pensyarah dan staf Kejuruteraan Aeroangkasa. Program ini juga tidak akan dapat dijayakan sepenuhnya tanpa bantuan dari dua Biro lagi: (1) Biro Maklumat yang diketuai oleh Pn. Farah Hamid bersama AJKnya dengan penuh terperinci dan setia menguruskan proses pendaftaran, kewangan, pensijilan, pemberiah hadiah, dan pengurusan/penyebaran maklumat​; (2) Biro Teknikal yang diketuai oleh En. Zihad Mahmud bersama AJKnya dengan penuh kecekalan dan disiplin meguruskan proses penyediaan fasiliti/peralatan, makanan, multimedia, publisiti, dan keselamatan.

Kita akan mengadakan persiapan terakhir untuk AEROFAIR 2015 pada hari Jumaat 24/4/2015 pada sebelah pagi dan petang. Di antara persiapan utama ialah penyediaan fasiliti dan kelengkapan di Dewan Utama. Saya berharap AJK dan fasilitator dapat bersama-sama meluangkan masa untuk membantu persediaan terakhir ini sehari sebelum Hari Utama supaya program dapat dijalankan dengan lancar pada keesokan harinya bermula awal pagi. Untuk program ini, kita telah dapat sambutan yang menggalakan dengan penyertaan seramai 42 pasukan dari sekolah-sekolah menengah di Pulau Pinang (lebih 2 dari sasaran kita untuk 40 pasukan). Setiap pasukan disertai oleh 5 pelajar dan 1 guru pengiring, bermakna jumlah peserta hampir mencecah 250 orang (kerana ada beberapa sekolah yang menghantar 2 pasukan dengan 1 guru pengiring).

Sekali lagi, ucapan terima kasih yang tidak terhingga dari saya kepada semua AJK dan fasilitator bagi AEROFAIR 2015 ini. Moga program kita dapat dilaksanakan selancarnya dan bermanfaat sepenuhnya kepada para peserta kita. Harapan kita juga supaya impak program ini dapat menjana momentum ke arah mewujudkan program-program ilmiah lain yang dapat meningkatkan minat pelajar terhadap sains, matematik, engineering, dan teknologi (STEM). Kita di dalam bidang aeroangkasa mempunyai banyak peluang cerah untuk usaha ke arah ini berbanding bidang lain kerana imej aeroangkasa sebagai bidang berprofil tinggi, sebagai peneraju utama teknologi masa depan, dan sebagai satu-satunya bidang yang membawa manusia melangkaui batasan graviti. Masa depan negara terlalu berharga untuk kita TIDAK mulakan usaha dari peringkat awal.

Ikhlas,
Pengarah AEROFAIR 2015
Pusat Pengajian Kejuruteraan Aeroangkasa
Universiti Sains Malaysia

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Competition

The regulations of the Indoor Flight Competition are as follows:

COMPETITION RULES
The main rules of the competition are:

• The flight time is counted from the plane’s release time until its landing, regardless of what obstacles (ceiling, wall, lamp, other planes, etc) the plane crashes into during flight.
• If the plane crashes into an obstacle and are trapped for more than 5 seconds, the flight will be disqualified. The team will have one more chance to fly if this is during the First Round and if the team hasn't used up their 2nd chance yet (see Competition Layout below for more details). If two planes crash onto each other and gets tangled up, the two teams will have a chance to repeat their flight.
• The competition judges have the final say if there is any serious disagreement on any issue, and the judges' decisions on the competition results are final.

COMPETITION WINNERS

• The first 4 winners will be selected based on the teams in the Semi and Final Rounds. The teams in the Semi Final Rounds that do no go into the Final Round will have to compete to determine the 3rd and 4th places.
• The other 2 places (the 5th and 6th places) will be determined by selecting one team from each group that has the best times in that group, but has not won the 1st to 4th places.

COMPETITION LAYOUT

The Flying Competition will be conducted based on the four rounds below (see the picture above). Each team will have two chances to fly their planes in the First Round. The teams competing after the First Round only have one chance to fly their planes.

First Round

• 20 teams per group
• In this round, 40 teams will be divided into 2 large groups. The teams in each group will compete based on their best flight time. Each team will be given 2 trials to fly their indoor plane.
• The top four teams in each group will be selected to go into the second round, which is the Quarter Final Round. The top four will be based on their best flight times.

Quarter Final Round

• 4 teams per group
• In this round, each team will be paired with another team in the same group. The pairing will be based on their flight times in the First Round. The two teams will compete face-to-face by releasing their planes at the same time. The plane that fly the longest wins this round.

Semi Final Round

• 2 teams per group
• The winner of the Quarter Final Round in the same group will compete with each other face-to-face. The winners of this Semi Final Round are the winners of the two large groups, and will go to the Final Round.

Final Round

• The winners from both groups will compete with each other to determine the winner of the overall competition.

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Aerofair 2015: Indoor Flight Workshop

For the AEROFAIR 2015 Workshop Session, we have prepared a short manual on how to build an indoor plane for the beginner's level. The aim of this manual is to provide simple instructions and tips to guide students in building their indoor planes. This manual will be used to support our 3-hour Workshop Session. At the end of the workshop, our goal is to have the participants be able to produce a flyable indoor plane. The Flying Competition will be conducted afterward in the afternoon session.

Because of short duration of the workshop, we will focus on building just one design of the indoor plane, the beginner's level Double Whammy design by Chuck Markos (you can check its flight video here and here).

This design is suitable for beginners and can fly up to 2 – 3 minutes. More details about it can be read in the National Free Flight Society website.

An improved version of the Double Whammy design is the Penny Plane design with a flight time of more than 5 minutes, but require more time to build, and therefore is not suitable for our short workshop. You can see its flight video here Normal indoor planes competing at international levels are designed to fly for more than 30 minutes, and the world record for a single flight is recorded at more than 1 hour.

In order to build a good indoor plane, several design aspects need to be carefully looked after. One important design aspect is on the aerodynamic aspect to ensure that the plane can produce lift and stable during flight. Another consideration is to make it able to fly in a circle so that it does not crash into the walls of the closed environment.

SHORT MANUAL
You can download the PDF version of the manual here: "A Short Manual on Indoor Plane Design". The manual consists of the following sections:

1. Introduction: Brief introduction on indoor planes.
2. Beginner's Indoor Plane Design: "Double Whammy".
3. Materials: Materials to be used in the workshop.
4. Team Arrangement: How to arrange a team of 5 students in the workshop.
5. Important Design Issues: Main design issues to make it fly upward and stable while flying in a circle.
6. Schematic Diagrams of an Indoor Plane Design: Schematic CAD designs of an indoor plane from different angles.

For the teams competing in AEROFAIR 2015, please read through the manual before coming to the workshop so that we can make maximize the workshop time to actually build and fly the indoor planes. If possible, please print a copy of this manual to the AEROFAIR 2015 Workshop session.

PROGRAM BRIEFING
At the beginning of the workshop in the morning, we will give a 15-minute briefing on the process involved to build an indoor plane. In the briefing, we will inform participants on:

1. Safety Issues: Especially on using cutting knives and 3-second glues.
2. Team Arrangement: Each team will assign four separate roles to the members. The four roles are for members to build four different parts: fuselage, wing, tail, and propeller
3. Building Parts: We will provide 4 main stations for each part to be built: fuselage, wing, tail, and propeller.
4. Assembly: Each team will start to assemble the four finished parts to build a complete indoor plane.
5. Flight Test: Once the plane is fully constructed, teams will test their planes.
6. Improvement: During the flight test, teams need improve their planes to maximize their flight time.

TEAM ARRANGEMENT
For the AEROFAIR 2015 Indoor Flight competition, students will be grouped into teams of 5 students per team. Before the competition, each team will go through a 3-hour workshop to learn, build, and test their plane. Because of the relatively short duration of the workshop, we assign the following 4 roles for the students in each team to take:

1. (Team Leader) Fuselage and Assembly: One student is needed to build the fuselage. This student will also be responsible to understand and supervise the entire process of assembling all parts to make the complete indoor plane. We recommend this student to be the leader of the group because he/she will oversee the overall assembly process.
2. Wing: Two students are needed to build the wing. We recommend that one student is assigned to cut the balsa woods and another to glue the woods onto the wing skin (plastic wrapper). Building the wing is a very delicate process and we recommend students to be extra careful in all the steps involved, including building the two posts to attach the wing to the fuselage. The wing is the part that takes up the most time to build, between 1 to 1½ hour.
3. Tail: One student is needed to build the tail. This student must also take the responsibility to understand the concept of stabilizing flight by using a tail to produce a downward force.
4. Propeller: One student is needed to build two or three propellers for the single indoor plane that the team will build. The reason is that, in our experience, the propeller can easily break if the propeller or the propeller attachment system on the fuselage are not properly constructed. This student should also understand the technique to launch the plane.

For the rules and regulations of the Indoor Flight Competition, please visit this page for more details.

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