Take the controls. Students go from the science of flight to actually flying — advanced controls, takeoffs and landings, jet and rocket engines, and the instruments and weather a pilot reads every day. The hands-on next step after Principles of Flight.
Join an interactive 12-week course for 8–16 year-old students, stepping up from the science of flight to how aircraft are actually flown and operated. Hands-on activities, demos, and small-group work build practical understanding of controls, engines, and flight decisions.
18 Jul 2026 - 3 Oct 2026 · Meets on Saturdays
You'll select your preferred time slot during enrolment.
Pick up where Principles of Flight left off and go deeper into the control surfaces, including the flaps that reshape a wing for takeoff and landing.
Discover the systems that help pilots fly: trim, autopilot, and the modern fly-by-wire controls that replaced cables with computers.
Learn why where you load an aircraft matters, and how balance and centre of gravity keep it stable and controllable.
Step into the cockpit and read the key instruments — altimeter and airspeed indicator — and the speed limits every pilot flies by.
Follow an aircraft down the runway and into the air, and meet the crucial takeoff speeds that decide when to go, lift off and climb away safely.
Bank, turn and feel the G's: discover how a plane changes direction and why turns make you feel heavier.
Bring it back to earth — the approach, flare and touchdown — plus how pilots handle tricky crosswind landings.
See how pilots find the runway in poor visibility, guided down by the "invisible rails" of an instrument landing system.
Look inside a jet engine and follow the suck-squeeze-bang-blow cycle that turns fuel and air into powerful thrust.
Explore how spinning propellers pull an aircraft through the air, and when a propeller beats a jet.
Blast off with rocket science: how rockets carry their own oxygen to make thrust where jets can't — in space.
Face the weather that challenges pilots — icing, thunderstorms and wind shear — and learn how the go/no-go decision keeps flights safe.
Book a free 45-minute demo and your child takes part.
Book a free demo