The Hazlegrove spirit shone through at the Flying Start Challenge Grand Final

The Mighty Eagles, our team of intrepid young engineers, went to the Grand Final of the Flying Start Challenge, which was held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

The boys took part in a day of engineering challenges and explored a glider and a helicopter, they also listened to Chief Engineers talk about aviation, aerodynamics and engineering.

VIP Engineer from NBDA, Clair Wilkinson was impressed with how confident and well informed our team was, which consisted of Otis S, Lucas M, George M and Max S. The Chief Engineer of Airbus, Rob Kay, was also impressed by the boys’ ability to apply mathematics to the engineering challenges as well as understanding specialist and technical concepts.

The boys were invited to fly their glider under a Concorde prototype where it enjoyed a magnificent flight of 11.3 metres before breaking on impact as it landed. Although pipped to the winning post by another team, the Flying Start Challenge has been a wonderful experience and given the children the opportunity to work with an inspiring team of engineers from Leonardo Helicopters and Airbus. The Hazlegrove spirit shone throughout the day and was highlighted when one of our boys offered to help another team when their glider broke. They were the youngest team taking part but were described by Claire Wilkinson as the most enthusiastic whilst their knowledge challenged that of teams who were two years older.  This is an annual competition and we will definitely enter again next year where the Mighty Eagles may fly again.

Well done boys, we are very proud of you.  

Click here to see the photos of the Grand Final in our Flickr album

Click here to see the teams as they made their way through the Flying Start Challenge