03/26/2020
Hello everyone! We wanted to give you an update on the team and our future goals. To start out: last week, our competition has officially been cancelled. We were prepared to receive this news, but it hurt nonetheless. There is a possible "fun flight" day that'll be scheduled when this pandemic passes over, but that's very up in the air right now.
Still, we were determined to fly this plane, and refused to just quit the build portion of this project. We were finally able to finish up our first build and flight test earlier this week. Here are a few photos from before and after the flight. The videos will be posted separately (right after this post).
Our first plane, Plant, named after one of our patrons (Christopher Plant), flew spectacularly! We had to cut through a lot of corners; it didn't look as pretty as we wanted it to, and we were unable to fully complete a competition ready plane, but we did what we could given the circumstance, and we are very proud of this. Our pilot, Ken, and the other gentlemen at the flight field helped us with last minute tweaks to prepare for flight. Ken did an amazing job, and our baby ended up in one piece (only suffered a little damage around the nose). Good thing too, because we "forgot" to bring the trash bag.
Moving on with our class, our team has decided to attempt to fix up our plane, make a few improvements, and fly again before the semester ends, as most of us are already located in St. Louis. We will do our best to continue to work in a safe manner, respecting and acknowledging the seriousness of this current crisis. We will be paying close attention to updates on this situation, and will act accordingly. But fingers crossed, we can do this again!
Thank you for your support and interest in our project. There are many things to be sad and disappointed about, but here's to hard work paying off! =)
~Bobby
