A group of Year 12 Vandyke Upper School students attended a residential workshop session at Hertfordshire University to progress with their engineering project.
Their brief was to improve passenger comfort on a long haul flight in economy class, a project that was started in November under the EES (Engineering Education Scheme). The team were partnered with local company BE Aerospace, who provided the brief, technical support and funding for the project.
Design and Technology student Aaron Kennedy said: “Our idea was an adjustable lumbar support that would accommodate people of all different heights.
“This idea came from our extensive research into plane journeys, in which many people complained about back pain ruining their experience. I suggested we make health problems a priority as it would improve comfort for the user and prevent the user from feeling this pain. Prior to the residential workshop we agreed that we would make a model of an airline seat and use it as our presentational aid on assessment day. We now knew our idea and had a plan for the residential trip.
“However when we heard their ideas, we grew in confidence and by the evening of the second day we had finished our seat. We decided to use the rest of our time modelling our airline seat on a Computer Aided Design program (CAD). By the end of the workshop we had completed much more than planned and we are now in a position to finish well before the due date. The highlight of our trip was the Racing Simulator for sure.”