On Monday 24th November 2025, three quadcopter enthusiasts and their two accompanying teachers gathered at Kirkcaldy train station for the long trip down to London. Destination: The Honourable Artillery Company. Reason: The Quadcopter Final!
The train journey gave the team the chance for final rehearsals of their presentation. They’d been working on it for months and were making tiny adjustments to make it even better. On arrival in London, they were confident they had the winning formula. They were shipped off to bed for an early night and they promised they’d get a good night’s sleep. Did you know St Paul’s Cathedral chimes loudly every 15 minutes through the night?
The team fuelled up on a healthy breakfast and headed to the HAC for a 9am start. They met up with the Livingston team they’d met in the Regional Final for a quick catch up and well wishes. The day was introduced by Raytheon’s head of STEM, Rosie Lawrence, who told us what to expect from the day and welcomed some very important STEM guests, including Karl Eze from the British Army Drone Sports Association, who showed us a video of some speed drone racing. Something to look into!
The first challenge of the day was to fly two obstacle courses. The pilot confidently said the second course would be easy. The first one was going to be tricky. The team guided him through the slalom poles and hula-hoops in under two minutes. A huge success! They were offered the chance to beat their time. They took the chance… and flew the Quadcopter straight into a hula-hoop, causing it to tumble out of mid-air and shatter into twenty pieces. A complete disaster! They worked hard to put their pieces back together again but couldn’t manage it in time. They were not allowed to fly their sellotaped Quadcopter bits through the second course, on account of everyone’s health and safety.
The second challenge was the presentations. The team had perfected their routine. They spoke about their vision, their dreams, how they overcame challenges and what was next for the team. The judges said they loved the humour and the ease at which the team performed. They commented on everyone having their role to play and that they’d played it well. As the team had already covered the engineering content in depth, the judges were only left being able to ask how the team had formed and what they would do differently if given the chance. The team said they wouldn’t change a thing, and the judges commended them for their confidence in their product.
The third challenge was the interviews. The team were asked why they had chosen Search and Save as their theme. The team were able to answer confidently as they’d carried out so much research! They were also asked what the future plans for the drone were – perhaps SAS were the only team to be as bold to say they were going to deconstruct the drone and give it new life as an RC plane!
Now came the waiting time… but the team had other ideas. They’d fixed their Quadcopter and wanted to do the second course. When the drone was being rebuilt, the controls had become inverted, leaving the drone unflyable. They pleaded their case with the Quadcopter lead, who, after many phones and checking of manuals, agreed to give SAS a second (first) chance. They jumped on it (and each other), and raced their Quadcopter round the course in an impressive 1:20. Never give up!
The time had come for the final awards. Imagine their surprise when they were announced winners of the Engineering Award, for best engineering content and presentation skills! Miss Barclay and Mr Conners gave the biggest cheer when they went to the stage to collect their award. Hard work pays off! Although team SAS didn’t win the overall competition, they have done Kirkcaldy High School incredibly proud. Their teachers are impressed with the amount of work they have put in to this project. Here’s looking to the next generation of STEM workers.
As this epic 2025 journey draws to a close, we would like to thank the following people:
- Our STEM ambassadors, Jake, Leon, Alex and McKinlay, for looking after us throughout the process, and helping us when we needed it most.
- Our STEM hero, Olivia, who went out of her way to provide us with replacement parts when ours went on fire.
- STEM ambassador Jacqui, for making sure we got home safely.
- Our teachers, for allowing us out of class to attend the Regional and National Finals.
- Our parents, for allowing us to travel to London for this fantastic learning experience.
- Mr McCowan, for introducing us to this event.
- Mr Conners, for accompanying us to this event.
- Mr McKay, for allowing us time out of school.
- Miss. Barclay, for making all this happen, and being a legend.
We can’t thank you all enough!
