ASPIRING aero-engineers will be flying high this weekend if they can repeat last year's success in a national model aircraft competition.

The six-strong team from St Leonard's School, Durham, backed by three technology teachers, head to RAF Cosford, in the Midlands, for the Wright Challenge.

Previously called the British Model Flying Association Championship, it has been re-named to mark the centenary of the first manned flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Teams are challenged to design, build and fly a model hand-launched glider, a rubber-powered model helicopter and a model aircraft or dart.

All are made from balsa wood and the latter two categories involve using an elastic band to aid propulsion. Each of the three aircraft must be flown 20 times in sequence over half-an-hour, with flying time tallied up, and added to points for presentation and design.

St Leonard's heads to Cosford aiming to retain its title in the senior category. They travel in confidence, having posted the top times in qualifying flights at junior, senior and premier levels.

Technology teacher Kevin Creaghan, whose daughters Elizabeth and Hazel, are part of the team, said: "We feel fairly confident. We've got all the highest flying times so far, so it would need some of the other teams to pull rabbits from a hat."

But colleague Stuart Shorthouse is more wary, preferring to see what the conditions are like at RAF Cosford, on Saturday.

"All the models we will take are untrimmed and when we see the prevalent conditions, looking at things like ceiling height, we will trim them on the day."