Northeastern Illinois University
Society of Physics Students

Event Date: April 29, 2008
Location: University Commons

The first Fly Day event was held on April 23rd, 2007. The event was conceived two weeks before it was held, and had dual purposes: to increase the visibility of the SPS on campus, and to experiment with lifting airborne payloads using different methods. During finals week, we took several kites and frisbees out to the University Commons and allowed any student to fly them who wanted to. Several members and a few stragglers flew different kites with varying degrees of success. We learned that sometimes a three-year old can do it better than any of us. And we lifted our first payload - a lightweight, analog camera - forty feet into the air using a dollar-store diamond kite. The entire school got to sit outside on a beautiful day and watch us play like schoolchildren between final exams. The day was a success in more than one fashion.

In the spirit of the original Fly Day, we continue to hold these events during the fall and spring of each school year. Over the years, the aim of Fly Day has shifted to making NEIU, and the surrounding community, aware that the SPS exists. While continuing to provide levity to the students, our experimental goals are to lift heavier and heavier payloads into the air using our custom designs. We'd like to take aerial photography of the campus. We want to lift a GPS as high as we can and communicate wirelessly with our package. Once our payload has been finalized and thoroughly tested using easy-recovery methods (such as kites), we plan on attaching it to a weather balloon, a UAV, or a rocket. We may eventually want to attempt to generate energy using kite-based turbines. The applications are endless!

And all the while, we will teach ourselves aerodynamic physics and master the art of flight And we will hopefully pique others' interests in the sciences. If it can take to the winds, we will fly it on Fly Day.

NEIU Student Organizations and nearby chapters of the SPS are encouraged to contact us if interested in combining resources so we can all benefit from Fly Day! For more information abouts what's available, or ways in which you can help, see below.

For a brief history of Fly Day, and a discussion of our technical goals click here.