Howard Composite Squadron assists at Elementary School Paper Plane Challenge

By Senior Member Elizabeth Dunster, CAP

Members of the Howard Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol assisted at the Elementary School Paper Plane Challenge on February 1, 2014, at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.  The Elementary Paper Plane Challenge is one of the Engineering Challenges that take place annually at the BMI, which are aimed at introducing school age students to the role of engineers in society.

Lt. Col. Robert Terry along with seven members of Howard Composite Squadron, including three cadets and four senior members, assisted at the Challenge, which involved participants from the second through fifth grades.  For this event, students are required to design a paper airplane that safely and accurately carries one paper clip as far as possible.  Teams consisting of four students use an assembly line to produce four paper airplanes in three minutes or less. After explaining their design and understanding of the principles of flight to a panel of judges, each student performs a test flight with one plane – the distance flown, speed, and deviation from course is measured. The teams also have to produce a written report prior to the day of competition.

1st Lt. Charlotte Redman has been helping at the Challenge for about eight years, and enjoys seeing the teachers who return annually with their students.  Cadet Airman Basic Richard Green said it would have been fun to do when he was in elementary school, and that he had a good time helping the young students at the Challenge.

Anjan Nath is a Gifted and Talented Resource Teacher at Clemens Crossing Elementary School in Howard County, which has had a team participate in the Paper Airplane Challenge for at least four years. Nath described it as “a tremendously valuable experience, regardless of how the teams place,” and observed that “participants have always said that it's hard work, but totally worth it. They have fun, learn things that can't be taught from a book (the value of teamwork) and experience a real-world application of scientific method. The competition has grown exponentially over the years, with nearly 80 teams competing in this year's challenge. That level of interest is an amazing testament to the program's value, and to the importance of this opportunity that the BMI is offering!”

Tom Milnes, organizer of the Paper Airplane Challenge, expressed appreciation to Civil Air Patrol’s Maryland Wing and Howard Composite Squadron on behalf of the Mid-Atlantic Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for their annual assistance with this event. Information about the Engineering Challenges is available on the Baltimore Museum of Industry’s website at www.thebmi.org/page/maryland_engineering_challenges.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 61,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 lives annually. Its unpaid professionals also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 26,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 72 years. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.

Nearly 1,700 CAP members serve in Maryland. Last year wing members flew 13 search and rescue missions. The wing was credited with five finds and one life saved. Maryland Wing flew 13 search and rescue missions. The wing was credited with five finds and one life saved.  Maryland Wing flew 32 missions for the State of Maryland. Members flew 2,106 hours in all mission categories. Volunteers contributed services estimated at 4.6 million dollars. For more information contact the Maryland Wing at www.mdcap.org or follow the Wing on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/MarylandWingCivilAirPatrol.

Howard Composite Squadron meets on Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. During the school year, the squadron does not meet on days that Howard County public schools are closed.