Flight
Description
Participants study the principles of flight and design in order to fabricate a glider that stays in flight for the greatest elapsed time. The glider must be designed to be launched from a catapult that is provided on site. The design process is documented in a portfolio that is submitted for evaluation.
2025-26 Highlights
Any materials are allowed to be used to create the glider. The material blanks must fit the regulations below:
i) Templates, jigs, and fixtures MAY be used in constructing gliders(these are to help facilitate fast and accurate construction),however, these templates, jigs, and fixtures must be developed and built by students, and must not be the same material as the blanks to eliminate confusion with pre-made parts.
Resources
MS Flight Reference Guide - by Peter Whitney
John Whitney, Franklin MS, 2025 1st Place
Event Deadlines
January 22, 2026
Students will need their Participant ID number, and password, from their advisor.
Students submit designs, and photos of test built planes as a pdf file.
Students also upload a test flight video to any platform, and submit a URL link to it.
April 2026
Students will submit their final portfolio on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, they will test fly their plane. Semifinalists will go directly from there to building another plane, and then directly back to testing.
Washington TSA Rules
To compete, students must:
Belong to a currently affiliated TSA chapter
Be registered (by their TSA advisor) for competition by December 19, 2025 ($35)
Compete in the January 22, 2026 virtual competition (see individual event pages for details)
Be selected as a top competitor in their event(s) and invited to participate at State
Number of competitors is dependent on specific event
Qualifying competitor lists will be published by February 8, 2026
State Conference registration week February 23-27, 2026 (see state conference page for details)
At the state level, 3 individuals per chapter may compete.
Additional Information
Event Coordinator:
Event Manager: Kari Potter, kpotter@washingtontsa.org
