GAMA’s Aviation Design Challenge Underway for High School Teams

The GAMA event, now in its 13th year, is designed to encourage teens to seek careers in the aviation sector. The contest is open to high school students enrolled in aviation-focused STEM courses.

“This program provides a great introduction for students to learn more about aviation and the diverse career opportunities that the industry has to offer,” GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunch said in a statement. “We continue to upgrade and refine the experience so that we can further engage both students and teachers. Each year, we are awed by the creativity and devotion to detail from each team’s submissions, and we look forward to seeing what they come up with for this year’s challenge.”

The challenge is open to the first 150 schools that register. Each school receives a free “Fly to Learn” curriculum, which meets national STEM standards and is designed to teach the principles of airplane design and flight. 

At the end of the program, which covers four to six weeks, the teams apply their newly acquired knowledge to virtually modify an airplane design. These modified designs will then participate in a fly-off using X-Plane software.

The designs are then evaluated during the fly-off and other performance parameters set by GAMA judges. The first-place team will receive an all-expenses-paid GA experience, which includes a CubCrafters manufacturing opportunity. The second-place team will get a Redbird Flight STEM Lab. The third-place winners will earn one-year ForeFlight Performance Plus subscriptions.

According to GAMA, the Aviation Design Challenge has attracted the participation of more than 900 teams from 475 high schools from around the country since its inception.

More information about the competition may be found here. Registration closes December 20, or once all available slots are filled.