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

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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).

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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)

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AEROFAIR 2015 Video

We have produced a short video about the AEROFAIR 2015 event, and uploaded it on YouTube at our Aerospace Eng.USM Channel. Scenes from the video include the workshop session to build indoor planes in the morning, and the competition session in the afternoon. Still images of the winners, the participants from schools in Pulau Pinang, and the organizers (staffs and students from SAE) are shown at the end of the video.

Thanks to Koh Wei Chong, our 3rd year student at the School of Aerospace Engineering (SAE) USM, for the design and the editing of the video.



You can read more about AEROFAIR 2015 in this post. A report about the event and a module on the theory and construction of an indoor plane are also available.

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A Module on Indoor Flight

As a follow-up to the AEROFAIR 2015 outreach event in April 2015, we have produced a document titled "A Module on Indoor Flight: Basic Theory, Instruction Manual, and Event Organisation".

This module describes an outreach program on indoor flight for secondary school students and organizers of outreach programs. Its objective is to promote the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through hands-on activities related to aerospace engineering.

The module introduces indoor flight briefly and describes the need to promote STEM education in Malaysia. It contains three main sections: (1) basic principles of flight, (2) an instruction manual to build an indoor airplane, and (3) guidelines to organize an indoor flight event.

Indoor flight offers a number of advantages as an outreach program: inexpensive materials, simple construction techniques, numerous resources, practice aspects, and promoting HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills).

The Table of Contents below summarizes the 3 parts of the module:

You can download the PDF file of the manual here. You can also download the AEROFAIR 2015 Final Report here.

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