How do you keep a glider aloft?

Brian Hawkins, an Aeronautic Education Specialist from NASA, can teach you the principles of flight. On February 3, he taught STEM - science, technology, engineering, and math to intermediate students at Midway Elementary School.

To keep a glider aloft you must balance the weight of the plane. An engineer does this with the ailerons, elevators, and a rudder. An airplane has wings and a tail just like a bird to help it fly.

Ailerons are located on the wings and help the airplane stay balanced. They are used to control the roll of the plane.

A rudder is a vertical flap on the tail and pivots the plane from left to right. This side to side movement is referred to as yaw.

Elevators are horizontal flaps on the tail, or empennage, which control the pitch of the plane. Pitch is when the nose of the plane tilts up or down.

Control surfaces, such as the rudder, elevators, and ailerons, allow the pilot to move the plane in flight. Many words in aviation are from the French language. Aileron, empennage, and fuselage are all French terms used in aeronautics.

There are four forces of movement that help keep a plane aloft. These forces work in pairs. Lift works in a direction opposite to weight, and thrust works in a direction opposite to drag.

Before 1958, NASA only worked with airplanes and was known as the NACA. On October 1, 1958, NASA changed the "C" to an "S" and began to launch rockets into space. When NASA works on a new aircraft, the engineers use a series of four stages in the development of the concepts.

• CFD, or computational fluid design, allows scientists to solve the complex mathematical problems needed to test the design of a new aircraft. Super computers can solve these equations in one second. It would take a human every second, twenty-four hours a day, for 406 years to do the same work.
• Wind tunnels are used to test the forces of lift, weight, drag, and thrust on the control surfaces of a model for a new aircraft. As the air rushes over the control surfaces, the engineers study the plane's ability to respond to the forces of motion.
• Simulators are machines used to create an environment where the pilot feels as though they are sitting in the cockpit at the control panel. Test flights are done in a real airplane. The pilot performs a series of maneuvers designed to see how the new aircraft will handle in flight.
• Brian Hawkins was a middle school and high school science teacher in Alaska for twenty-three years. He has been working as an Aeronautic Education Specialist for NASA for the past eleven years. He teaches students of all ages and has traveled all over the United States to work in classrooms. We were very happy to have him as a guest.

Robert P. Moses, educator and founder of the Algebra Project, believes that in order to move students out of the cycle of poverty, they need to have the skills in science, math, and technology to compete in the work force.

(Just like STEM!) Midway is an AVID elementary school. Science, technology, engineering, and math are part of the academic excellence expected in the AVID program.

We would like to thank Mr. Hawkins for teaching those skills to us. If you are interested in learning more about flight, please visit http://www.nasa.gov/ for students to find interesting things to explore.

To keep the little people in your house busy, we recommend the Kids' Club webpage. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

Photographers: Ms. Martin, Mrs. Nguyen, Mrs. McGee, Rigo Herrera-Ramirez, Krystal Rogers, Michael Beltran, and Tré Duffy.

Special Thanks for Technical Assistance: Mr. Cramer, Carson Cramer, Mrs. McGee, Mrs. Edgar, Jeremy Lomentigar, and Heber Garcia.

Photo captions from top to bottom:

Brian Hawkins - Midway Elementary
Brian Hawkins w/students - ailerons (Brian is standing at the white board. He has his "flaps" up and is titled sideways.)
Small group of students - demonstrating rudders
Saulo Zapata - demonstrating elevators
Shawn & Mrs. Edgar - working on a glider
Alexon & Jesus - watching Brian teach
Roselyn - with her 'ailerons" up
Shawn M. - with a glider
Colleen, Shyla, Anisa and Jonathan - Shannon Martin's students
Thaomy, Marck, Wendy, Crystal, Mariam, and Josan - Tia Nguyen's students/students who helped out and translated the lesson
Robert P. Moses - educator and founder of the Algebra Project
Brea, Tuesday, Wendy, Isidora, and Michael B. - happy sixth graders with their gliders