Future Burt Rutan?

[Ken Ibold]

Last year my son did his middle school science project on the effect of upper camber curvature on airfoil lift. He sculped wings from balsa and tested them in a wind tunnel he designed and built himself. He took second place in engineering in the district for that one.

This year, he built on that and did his project on the effect of winglets on the lift and drag of an airfoil, in which he sculpted raked, fenced, blended and elliptical winglets, attached them to the airfoil, and measured the changes in lift and drag. (He's 13.)

Last night he won 1st place in northeast Florida and will go to the state competition in April.

So for next year? Canards? Dual fuselages? Supersonic flight?

 

[tonycondon]

did he wait until the night before to do this years project?

sounds like you got a smart one there Ken, good work!

 

[gkainz]

Wow! Very cool!

"Dad, we need a wind tunnel and a couple of wings tomorrow." LOL!

 

[KennyFlys]

It sounds like dad won't need to fund this kid's college education. He's the kind of student colleges beg to have attend their school and subsequently companies will beg for him to join their staff.

Ken, I'm not sure what but it appears ya did something right.

 

[colomtnflyer]

Ken- what you really need to start worrying about is when he wants to start making those changes to YOUR aircraft...lol But who knows, as an EXPERIMENTAL, maybe he'll find you a few more knots for a little less gph...

 

[gismo]

Last year my son did his middle school science project on the effect of upper camber curvature on airfoil lift. He sculped wings from balsa and tested them in a wind tunnel he designed and built himself. He took second place in engineering in the district for that one.

This year, he built on that and did his project on the effect of winglets on the lift and drag of an airfoil, in which he sculpted raked, fenced, blended and elliptical winglets, attached them to the airfoil, and measured the changes in lift and drag. (He's 13.)

Last night he won 1st place in northeast Florida and will go to the state competition in April.

Impressive!

So for next year? Canards? Dual fuselages? Supersonic flight?

Area rule.