A little over a hundred years ago, before the Wright brothers invented the first airplane, flight was merely a far fetched dream for mankind. Airplanes went on to revolutionize the way we live our lives. Today, we decided to design and build our own airplanes at NuVu! Conforming with our semester-long theme of flight, and following the previous studio (where students built lighter-than-air vehicles), the students embarked upon building heavier-than-air radio controlled airplanes. The first step was an introduction to the basic formulas that govern heavier-than-air flight. Students learned about different methods of lift, propulsion, construction, and design. They started by making preliminary sketches of what they hoped their planes would look like, and calculated the theoretical expected air lift produced for each of their iterations. Students also utilized the software program XLFR5 to determine angles of attack, and airfoil designs that provided the most lift. The conceptual stage of the process was done, and the students were ready to start building! Using our newly minted CNC foam cutter, students started cutting out the wings of their airplanes. Dozens and dozens of foam wings were being cut. There were large wings, thin and long wings, tapered wings, old-school 'straight' wings, and many more. To determine whether the students' initial calculations were correct, the next step was to actually test the lift of each wing using a device called the Wing Tester. The Wing Tester is a small apparatus that blows wind at the wing at a specific speed, allowing the user to determine the amount of weight that the plane would carry at that speed. Students went back and tinkered with their wing and airfoil designs to maximize the amount of lift provided by their plane. They made the wings wider; they made them longer; they made them thinner; they changed the design of the airfoils; their imaginations ran wild. When each team was set on the design of their airplane, students started working on building the rest of the structure, planning the controls of the planes, and figuring out the electronics. While some students were constructing the planes' bodies, wings, and fuselages out of foam and balsa wood (a very light type of wood), others were wiring the servos, installing propellers, and soldering everything together. The initial designs were finally materializing into actual planes! By the studio's final day, the students were ready to show off their final products. One team built a glider with long, thin wings. Another team built a futuristic-looking airplane with tapered wings and a round body. A third team made a plane that could change the angle of its propellers, allowing it to both hover like a helicopter, and glide like an aircraft. Most planes were even too big to be flown indoors! No, they weren't full scales airplanes that can cross the atlantic. They were much cooler than that! [gallery link="file"]