Welcome to AEROFAIR 2016

Update 5/10/2016: Please read this post on the completion and outcomes of AEROFAIR 2016.

The School of Aerospace Engineering USM is once again organizing another series of our AEROFAIR outreach program this year. We have previously organized two AEROFAIR programs in 2014 and 2015. Our program is financially supported by the Penang Education Council of the Penang Institute and a USM research grant on outreach program. This program has been approved by Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPNPP).

The theme of this year's program is "Promoting Aerospace Science and Activities in Secondary Schools". The main event of this year's program is the half-day Competition Day, which will be held on Saturday, 24 September 2016. Another earlier event is a Briefing Day, which will be conducted for two hours on Thursday, 23 June 2016. (Its original date on Wednesday, 22 June, had to be changed due to the public holiday, Nuzul Al-Quran, on the same day.)

A video from our last year's AEROFAIR 2015 is shared below. The champion of the indoor flight competition last year was SMK Permatang Tok Jaya, Butterworth. Other winners are listed here.



OBJECTIVES:
Our main objective for AEROFAIR 2016 is different and more challenging from the objectives of the previous programs: "To guide and assist secondary schools in Pulau Pinang to develop sustainable activities related to aerospace engineering at their schools". These aerospace engineering activities will involve constructing small-scale indoor-flying airplanes and water-rocket models.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
All secondary schools in Pulau Pinang can apply to participate in this program. The deadline to send the application form is on Wednesday, 4 May 2016. The application form can be downloaded here.

ACTIVITIES & COMPETITIONS:
Two main flying competitions will be organized for two activities in AEROFAIR 2016 (you can read more about these activities by clicking the links below):

1. Rubber-band powered indoor flight
2. Water rocket

In addition, two other competitions will be organized as well to promote aerospace activities at schools. These competitions are:

1. Presentations by schools' contingents (on the Competition Day)
2. Videos made by students about aerospace activities at their schools

Awards will be given to the top three winners for each of these four competitions.

BRIEFING DAY:
An initial event, a Briefing Day, will be conducted for all participating schools three months before the main event. It will be on Thursday, 23 June 2016, from 3 pm to 5 pm, at the School of Aerospace Engineering, USM Engineering Campus, Nibong Tebal. Each school will be represented by 3 persons (including at least one teacher) to this event.

The main purpose of this Briefing Day is to supply each school with FREE materials and equipment necessary for them to conduct aerospace activities (on indoor flight and water rocket) at their schools. The cost of these materials and equipment (ranging about RM400 to RM600 per school) will be covered by the organizer. In addition, each school will be given explanations and guidelines on how to conduct these activities at their schools.

NOTE: We apologize to have to conduct this Briefing Day on the fasting month of Ramadhan. We try to make it as convenient as possible for all involved by making it a short 2-hour program. It is the only time frame available to both the USM organizers and the schools, for the following reasons:

1. The organizers will need to order from overseas some of the equipment and materials to supply to participating schools on the Briefing Day; this process may take more than a month,
2. Schools will have their Mid Term break from 28 May until 12 June, and an examination week prior to this break,
3. Conducting the Briefing Day in July after Hari Raya Aidilfitri will not give plenty of time for participating school students to carry out the aerospace activities before the Competition Day.

COMPETITION DAY:
This main event of AEROFAIR 2016 will be conducted on Saturday, 24 September 2016, from 7.30 am to 1.30 pm, at Dewan Utama, Kampus Kejuruteraan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang. Please visit this page for details of the program agenda.

ADDITIONAL NOTE:
Throughout this program, we want to encourage the use of English in learning science, 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 activities on aerospace engineering for school students are available in English.

Read more...

Additional Competitions

In addition to the two main flying competitions (indoor flight and water rocket), we will also organize two additional competitions to promote the learning of aerospace science and activities at schools. These competitions are:

1. Presentations by schools' contingents (on the Competition Day)
2. Videos made by students (about aerospace activities at their schools)

SCHOOL PRESENTATIONS
On the Competition Day, each school will be given a small booth (2 tables and a wall or soft-board) to display their plane and rocket models, and showcase their activities at schools through poster presentations. Each school will also be visited by judges to whom the students will present, for 5-10 minutes, their aerospace activities.

The activities to be presented and showcased in posters can include the aerospace science behind indoor flight and water rocket, and the processes of designing, constructing, testing, and flying them. Schools can also present/showcase other related aerospace activities, including the number of members in their schools' aerospace clubs/units, and photos related to their aerospace activities. Schools are encouraged to present about how these aerospace activities impact their interest in the science subjects at schools.

Posters and presentations can be done in either English or Bahasa Malaysia. In addition to the posters, schools can also use other mediums such as videos and and Power Point slides using their own computers/laptops. School presentations will be evaluated based on these criteria:

1. Content: quality of content/information in the posters
2. Creativity: creativity and uniqueness of the posters
3. Communication skills: Students' ability to communicate well during presentation to judges.

VIDEO PRODUCTIONS
Students at each school can also produce a short video, of about 3-5 minutes, about their aerospace activities. These activities can include the process of learning, constructing, testing, and flying indoor planes and water rockets, as well as about other aspects related to aerospace activities around their schools. For example, students can include in their videos interview sessions with other students and teachers about what they think about having aerospace activities at their schools.

Important elements that must be included (either typed into the videos or shown as writings on papers) in these videos are:

1. School name and address
2. Information that these aerospace activities are prepared as preparations for AEROFAIR 2016 @ USM
3. The date of the the video production and the names of the video crew.

Schools have to submit their videos online to YouTube and send the link to us (at the email address of our secretariat office) at least two weeks to enter this competition. We will then share these videos into this website. Three winners will be announced and awarded on the Competition Day.

These videos will be judged based on their creativity, uniqueness, and quality of content/information. Students can use either English or Bahasa Malaysia to communicate or write content in their videos. There are many FREE online tools that can be used to produce exciting videos for this competition.

Read more...

AEROFAIR 2016: Indoor Flight

In the previous AEROFAIR 2014 and 2015 programs conducted at the USM Engineering Campus, participants learned about indoor flight in short half-day workshops before competing in flying tournaments. The workshops did train the participants to build the planes on their own, but were insufficient to allow them time to experiment with the planes’ design parameters to improve their flights.

In AEROFAIR 2016, we aim to enhance students' experience with indoor flight by bringing these activities to their schools, instead of a one-off half-day workshop conducted at USM. We the organizers will provide each participating school with the materials and equipment needed to build indoor planes so they can carry out these learning activities (understanding, constructing, and experimenting with indoor planes) at their schools over a longer period of time prior to the flying competition event. These materials and equipment, costing more than RM400, will be provided for FREE to the schools.

The videos below are good starting points to know what indoor flight is about. The main aim with the rubber-band powered indoor flight is to fly the plane as long as possible...





We have also prepared a few documents to guide students build their own indoor planes based on a simple design called "Double Whammy" that should fly for about 1-3 minutes. FYI, a single flight of an indoor plane in international competitions can fly for more than 30 - 40 minutes. You can use our documents below to help you understand more about the basics of aerospace science behind indoor flight and start building your own indoor planes:

1. A Module on Indoor Flight (27 October 2015, updated 21 June 2016)
2. A Short Manual on Indoor Plane Design (20 May 2015)
3. Our tutorial video on how to make a simple indoor plane (21 September 2014).

You can also read more about indoor flight from our previous AEROFAIR programs by clicking our collection of posts about indoor flight in this website, or learn more on your own about indoor flight by searching on the internet using these keywords as a start:

1. Rubber-band powered indoor flight
2. F1D indoor free flight

Read more...

AEROFAIR 2016: Water Rocket

Update on 27/6/2016: Please visit these links to go to the USM Space Outreach website to read more about the description of a water rocket, the rules for the Water Rocket Competition, and to watch the instructional video on how to build your rocket launcher with the materials provided to your team on the Briefing Day.

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This water rocket challenge aims to provide a platform for school students to design, build and test a water rocket model based on scientific principles such as rocket propulsion theory, aerodynamics, and Newton’s third law with the goal of educating school students on the actual science behind the creation of water rockets. Through this competition, school students are encouraged to conduct research on science and engineering during the design phase of their work.

The video below shows an example of how to build a water rocket:



On the Briefing Day on Thursday, 23 June 2016, each school that will be participating in AEROFAIR 2016 will be given a water-rocket launcher for FREE; the cost for this launcher will be covered by the organizer.

A few months prior to the event day, students will be exposed to the rocket science and how the knowledge of rocket science is significant to our life. Students will learn how the rocket science enhances the space technology from time to time. Students will then design and fabricate their water rocket. They also need to fabricate their own parachute for landing system.

The launch aims at precision flight of the rocket. All competitors should make their water rockets and launch them at the designated places to the target. A target will be placed with the center 80m from the launcher (see the figure below).

Read more...

Application Procedure for AEROFAIR 2016

UPDATE on 28/4/2016: The Briefing Day has been changed from Wednesday, 22 June 2016, to Thursday, 23 June (3 - 5 pm). This change is due to the public holiday, Nuzul Al-Quran, also on 22 June.

Application form submission deadline: Wednesday, 4 May 2016.

All secondary schools in Pulau Pinang can apply to participate in this program. Out of these applications, only 15 schools will be selected to participate in the program. The selection is based on two criteria:

1. Schools who submit their completed application forms early to us.
2. Schools who are committed to carry out aerospace engineering activities by setting up Aerospace Clubs or Aerospace Units in their Science Clubs at their schools. A few of these schools have been identified in our previous program, AEROFAIR 2015.

The application form (prepared in Bahasa Malaysia for formality), can be downloaded in the PDF or Microsoft Word formats, and should be sent to us, either by post, email, or fax. Our contact information is available in the application form. The application form also contains the rules of the program, along with other information.

Each participating school is required to read the regulations set by Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPNPP) to join this program.

For further information on how to participate in this program, please contact the program's secretariat office below:

1. Pn. Fakriah Jamaluddin (Tel: 04-5995903; email: fakriah@usm.my)
2. Pn. Che' Fauziah Hanim Mohd Saad (Tel: 04-5995951; email: aehanim@usm.my)

Read more...