The Year 12 Engineering Studies class of Parkes High School, under the direction of David Warburton and Neil Unger, have undertaken the challenge to build a flying craft to enter the prestigious Moomba Birdman Rally.
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The Engineering students are one of only two teams entering the Birdman Rally from outside of Victoria, the other team is Parkes Christian School.
The Birdman Rally is a competition where members of the public build home-made gliders or human-powered aircraft and launch themselves off a four metre high wharf, competing for distance and entertainment value all in the name of charity.
A fundraising battle unlike any other, competitors are busily raising money in the lead up to their leap. The hilariously spectacular Birdman Rally is a long-held Moomba tradition that is guaranteed to have competitors and spectators in stitches.
The students will be promoting their support of Currajong Disabilities Services Parkes as the elected charity for the charity jackpot prize.
Any donations can be left at the Parkes High School front office.
The students have been building the craft in their free time after school, on weekends and over school holidays with guidance from Mr Warburton, Mr Unger and visiting pilots.
Mr Geoff White kindly allowed the young engineers the use of shed space, tools, bench space and his forklift operator skills over the drawn out period needed to complete their construction of `The Pickles Airliner’
The nine engineering students have greatly appreciated and would like thank David, Neil and Geoff for the time, guidance and expertise they have received from these generous volunteers and supporters. Saturday’s test flight was a success, and let’s hope it continues.
The 2019 Moomba Birdman Rally will take place over the Yarra River, Melbourne, Victoria on Sunday, March 10 as part of the Moomba Festival weekend.
As of earlier this week there were nine competitors in the flying section of the rally and 10 competitors in the Flop category.
All of the action starts at 11.30am.
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