(From ASME Student News Spring/1980)
CORNELL UNIVERSITY ASME SPONSORS GLIDER CONTEST

The Student Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at Cornell University, along with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, put on the "First Annual ASME/AIAA Model Glider/Paper Airplane Contest" here in Barton Hall on March 7, 1980. To say the least, the event was a crashing success.

There were more than 100 entries launched into the open spaces of Barton Hall while some 400 spectators cheered and more often laughed as the paper missiles and balsa buzzbombs took uncooperative nosedives and even looped back into the feet of their designers.

But there will definitely be another one next year, bigger, better, and longer according to George Stromeyer, ME `80, president of the ASME Student Section. "A lot of people really enjoyed themselves." Stromeyer commented, "and there were a lot of very interesting designs." Added Stephen Lane, ME `80, president of the AIAA Chapter. "People are already asking when it`s going to be next year!"

There were some spectacular successes this year. In the paper airplane category, Todd Spindler, EP `81 won first prize for the longest flight, 11.8 seconds. The prize for distance went to Lawrence Kawano, a freshman in the School of Arts and Sciences. His plane sailed for an incredible 102 feet 5 inches.

The paper planes were made on the spot from single sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 inch Xerox 4024 paper provided with 50 cent entrance fee. Staples, paper clips, tape, or other potential ballast were illegal. "We tried to make it as competitive as possible," says Chuck D`Angelo, ME `80 treasurer of the ASME Student Section. "The only things they had were scissors, paper, and their imagination."

The top winner was Gary A. Armitage, EP `81, who won both prizes in the unlimited category. His balsa wood glider flew for 15.8 seconds over a distance of 176 feet 5 inches. This outstanding performance won him two free flying lessons donated by the East Hill Flying Club of Ithaca, New York. Spindler and Kawano each won a sailplane ride courtesy of the Ithaca Soaring Club.

The unlimited category, which only stipulated that the model fit into a two-foot square box, attracted several rather ingenious entries: a down feather and a soap bubble.

The soap bubble landed after 8.6 seconds of soaring time, far out of the running for the duration record. Its owner, Paul Warren, ME `80 had two more launches to try for the record. He said it wasn`t worth the effort to reassemble the bubble that had burst along with his dreams.

William Kane, ME `80 won the duration record hands down with a feather which drifted aimlessly about for 28 seconds. He magnanimously withdrew in the spirit of the contest and was given an honorable mention for most original entry.

As might have been expected, a faculty member had the last word. David A. Caughey, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, faculty advisor to AIAA, unofficially entered a balsa wood glider pretested in one of Cornell`s wind tunnels. Launched from the stands 23 feet above the floor with only a wrist toss, Caughey`s plane flew more than 200 feet and stayed aloft for nearly 16 seconds.