Teachers’ Guide to
Fly Higher Tutorial 1
Aircraft in the Air: How Humans Fly
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
About this document
This document is part of the First Tutorial of the Fly Higher Project “AIRCRAFT IN THE AIR:
HOW HUMANS FLY” supporting the accompanying PowerPoint. It is aimed at giving
students an appreciation of the early quest to uncover the secret of human flight and,
further, to give them a simple appreciation of the scientific principles involved.
Author
David Quince, Associate Lecturer in Aeronautics, Coventry University.
Series Editor: John Fairhurst, European School Headteachers’ Association
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the official European Commission’s view on the subject.
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Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
Table of Contents
About this document ............................................................................................................................ii
Disclaimer .............................................................................................................................................ii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ iii
Summary of the Tutorial ............................................................................................................... 4
Lesson Outline ............................................................................................................................. 5
PowerPoint - Supplementary Notes .............................................................................................. 6
Extension Materials .................................................................................................................... 11
In or out of class................................................................................................................................. 11
AERONAUTICS WORD-SEARCH 1 ................................................................................................... 13
AERONAUTICS WORD SEARCH 2 .................................................................................................... 15
ANSWERS................................................................................................................................... 16
WORD SEARCH 1 ................................................................................................................................ 17
WORD SEARCH 2 ................................................................................................................................ 17
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Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
Summary of the Tutorial
Target Age Range:
The tutorial is designed for students 11 to 14 years old.
Target Ability:
All abilities (using suggested simplifications and extensions at the discretion of the teacher).
Target Time:
For full discussion: 50+ minutes
Possible minimum: 35 minutes
Materials Required
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Computer and classroom display screen
Weight on table
Small Balloon
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Lesson Outline
Introduction (Slide 1)
Tutor’s Informal Statement of Aims (1 min)
Identification of pictured aircraft (1 – 3 mins)
Phase 1. The Birds and the Bees (Slides 2 – 4)
Starter Activity: Flight in Nature – group discussions – Video 1, first attempts (3 - 5 mins)
Brainstorm: (Video 2 is background only) (3 - 6 mins)
Phase 2. Humans and Flight (Slides 5 – 12)
First Human Flight – balloons –Video 3, second attempts (3 - 5 mins)
Wright Brothers – Video 4 (3 mins)
Modern Jets – facts and figures (2 - 5 mins)
People in Aviation (Optional slide and group discussion) (4 - 6 mins)
What keeps airplanes in the air? – Video 5 and teacher led discussion: Newton III; balloon; aerodynamics
with hand from moving vehicle (8 – 12 mins)
Phase 3 Summary and End (Slides 13 - 14)
Recap – closing Video 6 (2 - 3 mins)
All timings are approximate; they are offered only as a guide. Obviously class discussions can be shortened or
allowed to develop at greater length, particularly if the students work in smaller groups first, ahead of a plenary
discussion. The programme can be lengthened further if the teacher introduces the detail in this Teachers’ Guide.
Following the minimum times suggested here would fill a lesson of 35 minutes. Following the longer timings will fit
fairly neatly into a 50 - 55 minute slot.
The Extension materials could be used to complete longer lesson times or set as homework tasks. We hope you
might also consider using the Fly Higher competitions as extension materials. See http://www.flyhigher.eu
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
PowerPoint - Supplementary Notes
Slide 1:
Depending on the class’ background and ability, you might first informally test the class, by show of hands,
to see what experience they have had of flying, their level of interest in aeroplanes and whether or not they
can recognise any of the three aircraft shown.
Main centre picture: Airbus 350 Passenger aircraft’; the newest European Airbus (first test flight in June
2013). This ‘plane is an innovative ‘show-piece’ for Airbus. Despite Increased passenger loads – up to 450
people – it is built with new, lighter weight, materials and is propelled by more fuel efficient engines, so
airlines’ running costs are reduced. (Airbus’ main rival – Boeing in the USA – have recently launched their
Dreamliner which is similarly inventive and future looking.)
Left lower picture: Concorde
The first supersonic (faster than sound) passenger aircraft, designed and built in the 1960s as a FrancoBritish collaboration. It flew at speeds faster than sound, which travels at 1,236 kilometers per hour
(768 mph), or about one kilometer in three seconds and approximately one mile in five seconds. Concorde
could cross the Atlantic, from Paris to New York – some 5000 km (3000+ miles) - in around 3 hours. Because
of the time difference of six hours, passengers would arrive in New York three hours before they left Paris!
Right lower picture: Harrier Jump-jet
Navy fighter – remarkable for its vertical take-off capacity, which made it the perfect aeroplane for an
aircraft carrier and for many awkward situations in battle where there was no runway facility.
Slide 2: Phase 1 Starter Activity
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Use this slide as a backdrop to asking the class to name some living creatures that fly, and what they
have in common. (Wings, and limited weight; though some bigger birds are heavy, all have a light
bone structure and extensive feathering makes them look bigger than their bodies really are.)
And some counter-examples. Not all insects fly. In fact most, such as those often found at home
(beetles, or woodlice, for example) do not. Ants, come in two versions, flying ants and ground based
ones. Nor do all birds fly. There are about forty species of non-flying birds in existence today. The
best known are the ostrich, emu, kiwi, and penguin. Wikipedia offers an extensive list.
Mammals (such as ourselves) generally do not fly. Our bone-structures are too heavy and we do not
have wings! Bats are an exception. Some tree-living mammals, Asian squirrels for example, have
webbed limbs (so wing-like when extended, rather like a bat’s) that enable them to glide, so
extending the distance they can jump between branches. But they cannot take off from the ground.
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Slide 3
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In nature we see birds and flying insects have wings rather than arms and apply a flapping motion in
order to gain flight into the air.
Show Video Man’s Early Flight Attempts, duration 1minutes 02 seconds (1:02) which demonstrates
how man’s attempts at copying this have never gone well.
The class might be invited to investigate this further; there are significant numbers of videos such as
these on YouTube. Some end tragically. It is incredible just how far people went to test their
theories – one man even believing his ‘wings’ would allow him to jump from the top of the Eiffel
Tower! (As this was effectively a filmed suicide we have consciously not included it.)
Slide 4:
Main Activity – the development of human flight
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Begin by getting the students to think how people do fly - but safely, in a controlled manner: to fly is
not to fall !
Click on the link in red outlined box. It shows a 5:34 silent video of a bird flapping its wings in slow
motion. You will probably want to cut this short; it is simply a backdrop to the activity.
Whilst the video plays, undertake a brainstorming activity around question asked on the slide, and
then have the class share their ideas.
Possible Extension (i) Find or draw pictures of all of the many ways of human flight
and create a collage for a classroom display. Possible Extension (ii) Draw or
photograph pictures of all - or just some or perhaps only one - of these many ways of
human flight and enter one of the two current Fly Higher Competitions. For more
information, please see http://www.flyhigher.eu
Slide 5
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After the brainstorming, point out those balloons were the earliest flying machines, primarily
developed by the French, at least at first. The balloon, of course, has nothing like the flapping
motions of birds. However balloons were at the mercy of the prevailing winds and, at this time,
were simply not controllable.
Ask the students if they know exactly what a hot air balloon is and if they have ever been in one?
How is the flight achieved? As the air in the balloon is heated, it expands and so is less dense – ie
less heavy – than the air around it, so causing an upward pressure as the hot air tries to rise. If the
balloon is large enough, this ‘lift’ can be sufficient to carry the weight of several people off the
ground.
Older, more able classes may know about hydrogen and helium balloons, which are filled with gas
much lighter than air. In the 1920s and 30s airships used this principle to lift them and carried
engines to move them along. However, they mainly used hydrogen which is a highly explosive gas
and the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 (when the whole crafted suddenly ignited, as it was landing in
the USA having crossed the Atlantic from Germany) destroyed public confidence, not least because
the whole tragedy was filmed and widely broadcast.
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
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Other ideas, besides balloons and airships, might include: gliders, hang-gliding, micro-lite craft,
parachuting, paragliding, helicopters, space rockets…
Possible Extension (i) Find pictures of all of these ways of human flight and create a
collage for a classroom display. Possible Extension (ii) Find pictures of all of these
ways of human flight and create a collage for participation in one of the Fly Higher
Competitions. For more information, please see http://www.flyhigher.eu
Slide 6
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OPTIONAL SLIDE- For shorter lessons, skip this one.
Click on the video (0:37) in red box again: This shows a few more old attempts with varied success
and types of flying machines; men were beginning to push their thinking beyond the ‘flapping’ idea.
Slide 7
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Given the many different failed (and sometimes fatal) attempts, the first safe, controlled machine
based flight was a momentous achievement.
Stress that credit for this is given to the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, and their ‘flying
machine’, Kitty Hawk.
Play video of first flight (0:33). It is a silent movie (Aside: The first “talkie” film with sound was still
26 years in the future).
The brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were actually in the bicycle business in North Carolina in America,
but became obsessed with achieving flight. Possible extension: students to investigate the Wright
brothers, who they were, where they came from and their many experiments before they
achieved the first flight.
Their most important realisation was that wings did not have to flap to give the ‘plane its lift – they
needed to be rigid, to give them strength, a very particular shape and pushed through the air at
speed, faster than a man can run (so some kind of engine is a necessary part of the craft). Modern
aircraft work on these exact same principles.
Slide 8
Look how far we have come, in just 110 years! In fact, the more recent developments have been in lighter
materials, more fuel efficient engines and safety. It took just sixty years to move from the Wright brothers’
Kitty Hawk to the supersonic Concorde – and only a handful more to send men to the Moon! We will now
focus on modern up-to-date aircraft. The European Airbus is just an example
Slide 9
Stress some of the more extreme statistics of the Airbus (its weight and fuel capacity, for example).
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Other facts not on the slide:
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The Lockheed-Martin Blackbird (which is a spy aircraft) can fly at 2,145 Mph or 3,452 km/h. This is 36
times faster than a car on the motorway or over three times faster than the speed of sound!
The American Saturn 5 rocket, which took men to the moon, is over 110 metres tall, that is nearly 10
double-decker buses high; it weighs 2,800,000 Kg and went just under 25,000 mph or 40,000 km/h,
once in space. This is equal 36 x faster than a bullet travels!
Possible Extension: Students to choose for themselves a well known aeroplane or one
they have travelled upon (but obviously not the Airbus A380!) research an appropriate
picture and then label it with “Amazing “Facts and Figures” about that craft.
Alternatively, challenge them all to do this for the Boeing “Dream Liner”, recently
launched.
Slide 10
Boeing is the largest manufacturer of aircraft in the world. Probably, their “Jumbo Jet” (actually the 747, not
this smaller version the 737) is the most famous.
Slide 11
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OPTIONAL SLIDE: if time is short, skip this one.
Estimates vary, but the human population of the Earth is estimated at around 6bn. So not far short
of half of us travelled somewhere on an aircraft in 2011. Though, obviously, some people travel over
and over again;
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY: If time allows you might want the class to discuss who would make most use
of air travel, and what jobs there are in the industry to make it possible. Alternatively you might
set this task as an out of class activity (for homework) or use it as an introductory ‘starter’ activity
for lesson 2.
Slide 12
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Note that this film is adapted from the work of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of
the most respected Universities in the United States.
Play the video in full. (3:32). (You may also wish to point out the use of the American English
“Airplane”, not the European English version “Aeroplane”)
W = mg. (Weight = mass x acceleration due to gravity) We have edited out the physics behind this;
older and more able classes might be reminded of this if they have seen it before, and that it is, of
course, a variation on Newton’s Second Law.
Newton’s Third Law (“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction“) might be
demonstrated simply by a weight sitting on a table: the weight plainly presses upon the table – but
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
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as it sits there, completely still, the table is in turn pressing upon the weight, in an upward direction,
so achieving equilibrium. If the children do not understand that, call one of them out and have
him/her pretend to be the table by holding the weight on an out-stretched hand!
If you have time, the balloon shooting across the room is a simple and easy way to illustrate the law
(the air, under pressure, rushes out in one direction and as a consequence the balloon is pushed in
the other) - the very simple principle under-pinning the jet engine. (Engines will be the subject of
another Fly Higher Tutorial.)
Slide 13
Phase 3 – Summary and Finish
This slide is intended as a simple summary of the key points of the science, and a recap leading to:
Possible Extension: (Most relevant to more able students or to a science class).
Students to write their own summary of “What keeps an airplane in the air?”
stressing the science they have seen displayed today.
Slide 14
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End video – taken from the Farnborough Airshow 2012, the most important air-show in the United
Kingdom.
Aeroplanes are used to carry all sorts of things – not just passengers. Cargo transport and military
applications are also very important.
The helicopter is rather different from a two-winged aircraft – but its rotor blades achieve lift in
much the same way as the aircraft’s wings. Helicopters will feature in another tutorial.
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Extension Materials
In or out of class
Word Searches
The two word searches that follow can each be set at two levels: with the key words listed as clues or without.
They can be used to extend the classroom lesson or set as homework. All the words should have been used in the
PowerPoint presentation. The Word searches are laid out in an easy-to-copy format in the next section. (All
copyright is waived for educational use.)
Word Search 1 is fairly low level, even without the clues. All words are simply vertically or horizontally
displayed.
Word search 2 with the clues is rather more difficult and, without the clues, quite tough! A number of
words are spelled out in a straight, left-to-right diagonal line but a couple of simpler words are laid out
right-to-left.
A number of activities that might be undertaken out of class are listed above at points relevant to the
presentation. They could, of course, be set at the end of the class time instead. These are:
After the Brainstorming session (Slide 4):
Possible Extension (i) Find or draw pictures of all of the many ways of human flight
and create a collage for a classroom display. Possible Extension (ii) Draw or
photograph pictures of all - or just some or perhaps only one - of these many ways of
human flight and enter one of the two current Fly Higher Competitions. For more
information, please see http://www.flyhigher.eu
After the Wright Brothers’ video of their first flight (Slide 7)
Possible extension: students to investigate the Wright brothers, who they were,
where they came from and their many experiments to achieve the first flight.
After the Airbus A380 statistics (Slide 9)
Possible Extension: Students to choose for themselves a well known aeroplane or one
they have travelled upon (but obviously not the Airbus A380!) research an appropriate
picture and then label it with “Amazing Facts and Facts” about that craft.
Alternatively, challenge them all to do this for the Boeing “Dream Liner” recently
launched.
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
After the discussion of who travels by air and who works in the industry
(Slide 11)
Possible Extension: Students to write (or prepare for a future class discussion) the
types of people who make the most use of air travel, and what jobs are needed in the
industry to make it all possible.
After the video and the discussion of the science behind flight and the recap
(Slides 12/13)
Possible Extension: (Most relevant to more able students or to a science class).
Students to write their own summary of “What keeps an airplane in the air?”stressing
the science they have seen displayed today.
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AERONAUTICS WORD-SEARCH 1a
Can you find these ten aeronautics word hidden in this grid? The words are:
 Airbus
 Drag
 Balloon
 Gravity
 Boeing
 Jumpjet
 Concorde
 Lift
Explain the meaning of each word as you find it.
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Thrust
Wings
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
AERONAUTICS WORD-SEARCH 1b
Can you find ten aeronautics word hidden in this grid?
Explain the meaning of each word as you find it.
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AERONAUTICS WORD SEARCH 2a
Can you find these eighteen aeronautical words hidden in this grid? The letters are laid out in one line: up,
down or diagonally.
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Air
Airbus
Balloon
Boeing
Concorde
Drag
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Engine
Gravity
Harrier
Hot
Jet
Kittyhawk
Explain the meaning of each word as you find it.
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Lift
Supersonic
Thrust
Weight
Wingspan
Wright
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
AERONAUTICS WORD SEARCH 2b
Can you find eighteen aeronautical words hidden in this grid?
The letters are laid out in one line: up, down or diagonally.
Explain the meaning of each word as you find it.
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Answers
WORD SEARCH 1
WORD SEARCH 2
Teacher´s Guide to the “Aircraft in the air: How Humans Fly” tutorial
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