Cadet Corporal Sam Aleksander of 229 (Farnham) Squadron has taken top spot in the BAE Systems Tempest Cockpit Design Competition.
Sixteen-year-old Sam, who has been a Cadet for three years, won the competition with his entry looking at how colour psychology could help pilots understand information more quickly – an ingenious idea.
He entered the competition to ‘test his brain’ during lockdown. Sam said: “It was because the Tempest is super-advanced, they thought of everything. I wanted to find something that people might not have thought of. I like coming up with concepts.”
The idea of colour psychology came from his GCSE DT project. He said: “I was looking at how to create a welfare area within my school and was looking at colour psychology and how colours will affect the brain – someone’s mood and personality.”
Sam found out about winning the competition after a long train journey back from school. He was tired but his mum said: “you need to check your emails”. After initially scrolling past the message he got to the line in bold saying …Winner: Sam Aleksander of 229 Sqn.
“I had a great grin on my face and as soon as I read that, I was up and energetic. It was really exciting – I was really happy.” Sam recalled.
Sam is now looking forward to his prize trip to BAE Systems to see the Tempest team in action. He is keen to see the processes involved in developing state-of-the-art technology and how the different teams interact.
