{"id":35744,"date":"2026-06-22T21:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=35744"},"modified":"2026-06-22T21:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:13:16","slug":"gama-announces-2026-aviation-design-challenge-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/georgia\/gama-announces-2026-aviation-design-challenge-winners\/%20","title":{"rendered":"GAMA Announces 2026 Aviation Design Challenge Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced that the team from Cambridge High School in Milton, Georgia, is the first-place winner of the 2026 GAMA Aviation Design Challenge<\/a>. The team from Corona Del Sol High School in Tempe, Arizona, is the second-place winner and the team from Greenville Technical Charter High School in Greenville, South Carolina, is the third-place winner.<\/p>\n\n\n

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2026 GAMA Aviation Design Challenge first-place team from Cambridge High School Porter High School (from left to right: John Friske (teacher) Clark Benner, Christian Seawright, Morgan Smith and Adam Gould).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe 2026 GAMA Aviation Design Challenge participants showcased some very creative and innovative design concepts, and we are proud of all the hard work that the teams put into their submissions. We congratulate Cambridge High School on winning the competition, along with Corona Del Sol High School and Greenville Technical Charter High School for their top finishes. GAMA looks forward to furthering the reach and impact of this valuable program, which provides students with a unique perspective into aircraft design and the science of flight,\u201d said James Viola, GAMA president and CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 70 high school teams, representing 31 states, entered the 2026 GAMA Aviation Design Challenge. During the first portion of the challenge, teams used complimentary \u201cFly to Learn<\/a>\u201d curriculum to learn the principles of flight and airplane design. During the second portion of the competition, teams applied their knowledge to modify the design of an airplane and complete a fly-off mission using X-Plane software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s mission was to modify a Cessna 208 Caravan to complete a test flight, carrying as much weight as possible, as fast as possible, in the French Alps. The teams needed to design their aircraft to maximize speed and cargo weight to successfully navigate between two remote locations in high altitudes. Judges scored the teams based on test flight performance, a summary explaining design changes, a video submission summarizing what they learned and a checklist describing steps for the test flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the first-place team from Cambridge High School include Clark Benner, Adam Gould, Morgan Smith, and Christian Seawright. The Cambridge team\u2019s entry went into great detail about their reasonings for design modifications which included determining an optimal wing aspect ratio, adoption of a V-tail configuration, and a larger propeller with remodeled landing gear to compensate for the propeller\u2019s increased diameter. The team\u2019s first-place prize includes a CubCrafters Manufacturing Experience, demonstration flight opportunities and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second-place entry from Corona Del Sol High School included detailed experiments to test variables for their design modifications of a lowered wing with reduced length, increased flap mean chord ratio, changed airfoil type, and the addition of retractable landing gear, with repositioning, and speed brakes. They will receive a two-day Redbird Flight STEM Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third-place entry from Greenville Technical Charter High School included multi-variant development with detailed reasoning for each evolution that culminated in an aircraft with a longer wingspan with a greater aspect ratio, reduced horsepower, a larger propeller, and a T-tail configuration. They will receive one-year ForeFlight Premium subscriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, to ensure that technology gaps did not hinder a school from participating, the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) Foundation established a technology grant program to provide computers and\/or flight controls to schools in need. Through the IADA Foundation\u2019s generosity, all the schools that requested technology assistance were supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe IADA Foundation is proud that we were able to provide the needed technical assistance for teams to participate in the GAMA Aviation Design Challenge. The grant program furthers our dedication to strengthening the future of aviation through education, innovation and opportunity,\u201d said Suzanne Meiners-Levy, Chair of the IADA Foundation and Shareholder at Advocate Consulting Legal Group, PLLC. \u201cWe remain committed to investing and supporting the next generation of engineers, pilots and aviation leaders who will carry this industry forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 Aviation Design Challenge sponsoring companies include Bombardier, Cirrus Aircraft, Click Bond Inc., CubCrafters, Embraer, Garmin, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Hartzell Propeller, Jeppesen ForeFlight, Jet Aviation, Redbird Flight, Signature Aviation, Textron Aviation and Wipaire. Sponsors provide financial support for the curriculum, software and prizes as well as in-kind donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGAMA is grateful to our sponsors, whose strong commitment to youth outreach has helped drive the success and continued growth of the Aviation Design Challenge. We are excited to recognize the hard work of our winning teams through the meaningful experiences made possible by our sponsors. Additionally, we are very appreciative of the generous support from the IADA Foundation to ensure that participating teams had the resources needed to compete in the challenge,\u201d Viola said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced that the team from Cambridge High School in Milton, Georgia, is the first-place winner of the 2026 GAMA Aviation Design Challenge. The team from Corona Del Sol High School in Tempe, Arizona, is the second-place winner and the team from Greenville Technical Charter High School in Greenville, South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,98,29,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aerospace-education","category-aviation-education","category-georgia","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35746,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35744\/revisions\/35746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}