What we run
A hands-on curriculum, start to finish
Kids don't just hear about engineering — they design, build, and test it. Here's what a season of Flight Path covers.
Challenge
Parachute Design Challenge
Students design, build, and test a parachute of their own, then improve it based on how it performs.
Challenge
Aircraft Design Challenge
Students put everything they have learned to work designing, building, and testing an aircraft, then refine it based on how it flies.
Foundations & Workplace Safety
Every build starts with safe habits. Students learn the shop rules and procedures they follow every session, get a first look at Newton's laws of motion, and practice the engineering design process: define a problem, imagine solutions, build, test, and improve.
Machines & Tools
Students get hands-on with the fasteners and hand tools real aircraft are built with. They learn how different rivets, screws, washers, and nuts and bolts hold parts together, and how deburring and filing leave clean, safe edges.
Aerodynamics & Bernoulli's Principle
How does air let something fly? Students explore how air pushes on objects, why airfoils are shaped the way they are, and how changes in air speed and pressure create lift. The Bernoulli equation and the different kinds of pressure are introduced step by step with simple demonstrations.
RC Planes
Students learn what goes into building a radio-controlled plane. They compare balsa, wood, and foam to see how each material changes weight and strength, and find out why the center of gravity matters so much for a plane that flies steadily.
Robotics & Electronics
Students build and program robots with VEX and learn the basics behind them: how circuits carry electricity, how wires connect the parts, and how soldering and welding join materials together.
Rockets
Students design, build, and launch bottle rockets, learning how thrust pushes a rocket upward and what helps it fly straight. We also look at how real rockets work and, if the schedule allows, get a closer look at the real thing.
Drones
Students learn how drones fly and how their motors and propellers work together. Along the way they solve a fun puzzle: how a drone can turn, or yaw, without having a rudder.
Arduino & Coding
Students write code that makes hardware do things. Using C++, Python, and MATLAB, they program a small Arduino to read sensors and control motors and servos, and watch their code turn into real movement.
Flight Simulation
In Microsoft Flight Simulator, students take the controls of a virtual aircraft and practice what they have learned about lift, drag, and control surfaces without ever leaving the ground.
Forces of Flight & Control Surfaces
Every aircraft is a balance of four forces: lift, gravity, drag, and propulsion. Students learn how pilots steer using ailerons, flaps, elevators, slats, spoilers, the rudder, and trim tabs, and what each one does to the plane.
Engine Types
Students compare how different jet engines make thrust, from turbines and turbojets to ramjets and scramjets, and learn why different engines are built for different speeds.
3D Design & Testing
Students design before they build. They model parts in Onshape and Blender, test rocket designs in OpenRocket, explore airflow in SimScale, and learn the slicer settings that turn a design into a 3D print.
What's Next
Flight Path doesn't end after the last session. Students hear about internships and get resources to keep exploring aerospace and engineering on their own.
What we teach
Links & resources
Lesson materials, guides, and sign-ups. Some links are only open to certain accounts. Log in to see what you can open.