Intro Airplane Design App

This fun software app provides an incredible way to use your computer at home or in the classroom to learn STEM through our thematic unit on flight. Visit our web site too!

Introduction to Airplane Design makes it easy to engage in authentic science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) by learning the fundamentals of aeronautics. Making use of interactive simulations and powerful design tools you will be pleased how rapidly one can pickup scientific concepts. Best of all, by actively doing the analysis and design of your own performance gliders on the computer, and then by building and flying your designs off-line to assimilate your studies, you will be impressed with how well your designs perform in actual use, while being amply rewarded with a firm grasp on why your airplane flies so well. As your studies progress one can advance to powered flight by including a rubber band or electric motor and propeller in your designs. With this app, one can experience their knowledge taking flight and soaring to great heights while just having fun!

This software app is much more than just game fun though, it can be utilized to teach science with challenge, inquiry, and accountability, yet it is easy to implement and use, and has been well tested in many classroom. The in-depth content of this package can provide 1 to 8 weeks of classroom curriculum that nicely fits learning standards, or which can be used as a comprehensive resource. For grades: 8-12. It is a favorite unit of study at many schools.

The app includes lessons, numerous activities, and plans for off-line labs packaged as embedded PDF’s which can be used in classroom settings to keep students actively involved with the software, give students the opportunity to test aerodynamic principles using a wind tunnel simulation and flying test aircraft, and help them to understand how to design their own aircraft that fly well. These lessons can free up more time for you to teach!

SCIENCE/PHYSICS PRINCIPLES INCLUDE:

* Balance of Forces * Bernoulli’s Principle * Centrifugal Action

* Density * Energy * Fluid * Force * Friction * Geometric Change

* Line of Action * Newton’s Laws * Moment/Torque

* Power Pressure * Supersonic * Velocity

IMPORTANT AERODYNAMIC CONCEPTS:

* Gravity * Lift * Thrust * Drag * Stability * Control

IMPORTANT DESIGN PRINCIPLES:

* Airfoil Shape * Wing Shape * Wing Configuration

* Tail Requirements * Control Surfaces * Balance and Trim

* Dihedral * Propulsion

AIRCRAFT DESIGN COMPUTER:

Easy input of dimensions

3-D visual of the aircraft design

In-depth analysis of performance

Detection and explanations of design problems

Simulation of airplane glide performance

SOFTWARE CONTENT:

28 computer simulations

58 detailed explanations of principles

22 colorful and illustrative diagrams

10 graphs of aerodynamic trends

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES & LABS:

16 classroom activity lessons with objectives

10 hands-on lab plans with material lists

Detailed design and build guides

Answers, teacher’s notes, and 5 quizzes

THE HANDS-ON ADVANTAGE

Do you know why and how to design a tail to balance (trim) and stabilize an airplane or glider? Use the software and hands-on activities provided to clearly explain and develop an understanding of such aerodynamic concepts through application and synthesis of many physics principles.

The included lab write-ups provide students with the opportunity to actually test out many principles and exercise careful use of scientific methods in testing, measuring, and examining results. These labs can be used to help one understand aerodynamic concepts and experiment with how configuration effects flight performance. They provide additional learning styles and help students assimilate and apply what they are studying.

HARNESS THE COMPUTER’S IMPRESSIVE POWER

Challenge students to make use of their understanding of principles and concepts to come up with their own aircraft designs. Give them the experience and insight on how the computational power of computers is used to find solutions in the real world, learning and fun in your class is sure to soar!

This impressive unit of study is a subscription web App offering for one computer for one school year (July to June). A reasonably fast internet connection using a modern Chromebook, Windows 10 or 11, or Apple computer (Catalina or later or MacOS) is necessary to access it. With purchase, the PDF download given provides the browser links and password needed to access and run the App.