Seattle Chapter Hosts Annual Student Outreach Dinner

The Seattle Chapter of SFTE recently hosted an annual outreach dinner for the students at Raisbeck Aviation High School. The ninth-grade students participated in a ten-week flight test project that used takeoff flight testing as a backdrop to understanding physics concepts such as Newton’s Laws, and both the Kinematic and Lift equations. Students used the desktop flight simulator XPlane to conduct takeoff testing of several airplane models. Variables such as gross weight, flap setting, temperature, wind, etc., were manipulated to determine their effect on takeoff distance. The students held a poster session and shared their findings with SFTE members as well as discussed what it is like to have a career in flight test engineering. The event concluded with a presentation by Tom Sanderson, a manager at Boeing, on sustainability at Boeing.
 

SFTE Members had a chance to visit with many of the student groups and hear about their presentations in a science fair style atmosphere.

A proud student group poses with their project results!

One student group got a chance to present to the entire crowd.

After dinner, SFTE Member Tom Sanderson gave a talk on Boeing's sustainability goals and how Flight Test will fit into them.