Wright Stuff and Elastic Launched Glider Events for 2027

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Science Olympiad is a decades-old competition that takes place annually across the United States. It promotes STEM education in elementary, middle, and high schools. Teams of 15 students from each school  compete in 23 testing and building events.

The Science Olympiad Wright Stuff (WS) and Elastic Launched Glider (ELG) events return again for the 2027 season. I coached many students in both of these events over the past twenty years at regional, state, and national Science Olympiad tournaments. 

The rubber powered event was called Wright Stuff for decades and for a few years was called the Flight Event after I successfully had the rules amended to require that the models fit in a box of stated dimensions. This was done to eliminate tedious and potentially hazardous measurement of wingspan and chord, prop, stab, etc. dimensions at tournament check-in, increase design creativity, and provide for safe transport of models. This year the rubber powered event returns to its traditional name of Wright Stuff.

The 2027 WS event is in Division C for high school students. It is very similar to many of the previous WS and Flight events. The 2027 WS event requires a rubber powered model airplane to fit into a box of prescribed dimensions in its flight configuration. The model must weigh a minimum of 8 grams excluding the weight of the rubber motor which may not exceed 1.5 grams. A team's Flight Score is based on the longer of two official flights.

The gold medal winning student-built WS model shown in the picture met the 2015 WS rules which had no length limit on the model. The extreme length of this model allowed the CG to be located very far rearward, behind the TE of the wing as I recall. This allowed for a very low decalage and very reduced drag. However, it was necessary for the students to do high no-touch flights with careful use of a torque meter during winding because the recovery exhibited by this model from collisions with beams and light fixtures was very poor.

The 2027 ELG event is in Division B for middle school students. It is similar to the prior ELG events. This year the glider must fit in a box of prescribed dimensions in its flight configuration. There is a "more than 3.5 gram" minimum weight limit. The launch handle must be less than one meter in any orientation, completely supported by one student, and be safe. There are no other restrictions on the launch handle.

There is a distinct possibility that some of the tens of thousands of students that will compete in the 2027 WS and ELG events across the nation will go on to participate in the adult free flight hobby. Indeed, three time F1D world champion Kang Lee got started in free flight about fifteen years ago as a result of coaching his daughter in the WS event.

If you are in the US and are contacted by a school to help coach students in the WS or ELG events, consider taking up this opportunity to help students learn about aeronautics and also to help preserve free flight.