One of the silver linings of the pandemic was getting to homeschool three of my grandchildren, two fifth graders and one third grader. One of our science lessons was the famous egg drop experiment. You know the one where you create the best case possible for a raw egg to be able to withstand a drop from the top of as high location as possible which in our case was a 14-foot ladder. I made it a contest, of course, between the three, since everything in our family is competitive. Needless to say, there was egg everywhere and three not very happy kiddos. Not the case, no pun intended, with The Hardin Valley Academy AeroHAWKS.
Rocket practice
The AeroHAWKS, in their first year of competition, have qualified two teams to compete in The American Rocketry Challenge Nationals on May 20 in Plains, Virginia. The national competition selects the top 100 participating teams from the 800 registered to compete. The contest tasks teams of up to 10 students to design, build and fly a rocket that carries one raw hen’s egg up to 850 feet in a total flight time of 42 to 45 seconds. The egg must be returned unharmed and the rockets must separate into two parts, one carrying the egg payload and electronic altimeter, and the other the motor.
The champion will represent the U.S. at the International Rocketry Challenge to be held at the Paris Air Show (France) in July. The top 10 teams will split $100,000 in prizes, and the top 25 will qualify to participate in the prestigious NASA Student Launch Program.
The AeroHAWKS are also competing in the UAS4STEM (drone) Search and Rescue Challenge along with the AMA’s (Academy of Model Aeronautics) Heavy Lift Challenge (Radio Controlled Aircraft Challenge). The Hawk is a very good symbol for this flight crew.
All of us have a story and I want to tell yours! Send them to susan@knoxtntoday.com
