TECgirls SANDBOX: Reach for the SKy by tecgirls.co.uk

Future of flight + amazing aerospace

Welcome to Sandbox Magazine

The magazine for tec girls

Sandbox is the of cial magazine for TECgirls, celebrating everything TEC, engineering and digital creativity for girls aged 7 to 14.

This edition takes you into the heights of aeroplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (known as drones), spacecraft and satellites.

Launching at Reach for the Sky – the future of ight festival where girls can explore the possibilities of working in aviation and aerospace – you can nd out more about all of this inside. Discover everything from the inspiring women working in ight today, to the women who helped lead the way to make the rst planes and set early ying records.

Discover how a new generation of cleaner, greener planes work and how nature inspires aerospace engineers in the Natural Fliers Quiz. Plus, the Sandbox crossword, coordinates game, make a parachute and guess the drone photography picture quiz. Turnover to take off...

Use this square to cut out your parachute!

Welcome to Sandbox Magazine

The magazine for tec girls

Sandbox is the of cial magazine for TECgirls, celebrating everything TEC, engineering and digital creativity for girls aged 7 to 14.

This edition takes you into the heights of aeroplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (known as drones), spacecraft and satellites.

The TECGIRLS Team

TECgirls was set up by a group of women and men in Cornwall who want to change the status quo.

Across the UK there is a lack of women in technology, engineering and the creative sectors. This lters down to a lack of participation at college, secondary and even primary school levels.

Girls just don’t seem to be joining in. Our founding group decided to try to tackle the issue as early as possible, looking at ways to help girls as young as six realise that TEC is a girl thing.

Issue credits

Publisher TECgirls

Managing Editors

Stranger Collective

Caitlin Gould

Curious. Digital. Creative. Feminist. TECgirls Founder and Director

Jane Orme Coder. Analyst. Writer. Artist. TECgirls Co-Founder and Non-Exec Director

Suzanne Manson

Doer. Analyst. Maker. Mentor. TECgirls Director and Head of Delivery

Design, Illustration and Art Direction

Venn Creative

Printer Booths, Penryn Cornwall

FSC paper from responsible sources

Pass on, reuse, recycle as paper

Suzanne Manson

Jane Orme

Caitlin Gould

Why We Fly

It’s more than just travel. Find out about important reasons to y.

Up, Up and Away

Flight takes place from the ground, up –really! Find out more…

What Is It?

We get very close up to pictures taken from drone height. But can you guess what are the pictures are of?

Maverick’s Mission

Melissa Quinn, formerly at Spaceport Cornwall, on taking a leap into the unknown and learning from the results.

Cleaner, Greener Aeroplanes

Two new aeroplane designs for ight that’s better for the planet – analysed.

Departure Lounge 1

For your next journey or kicking back at home – discover some books about ying and great discoveries. Get coordinating to learn about navigation.

Flight Paths

What could your route into a career in aviation look like? Answer these questions and see what type of job could be in your ight path.

Get Ready for Takeoff

It’s not all about being a pilot. At ground level, there are lots of interesting and unexpected jobs – all essential to get planes in the sky.

Women in Flight

We check in with six inspiring women working across the world of ying – from fast jet pilot to avionics designer.

Sandbox Crossword

The Natural Fliers Quiz

Can you work out which animals have inspired aeroplane design?

Back to the Future

Grab your boarding pass, fasten your seatbelt and join us on a y-through of aviation history into the future of ight.

Design the Future of Flight

Share your vision of what the future of ight should look like and win!

Colouring In

Pilot’s POV

Emily Curnow shares her point of view, from the cockpit of a plane ying to the Isles of Scilly.

Make a Pinwheel

These pages are recyclable, but why not reuse some of the pages too? Here’s our guide to making a propeller pinwheel.

Departure Lounge 2

We steer you towards some useful websites and online resources, plus check your crossword and quiz answers.

Make a Parachute

Another exciting way to reuse these pages – this time to make a parachute! Plus a payload to attach and guide safely to earth...

Why do we y?

There are lots of reasons, from saving lives to making forests.

Can you imagine a world before ying? Travelling to places like America or Australia by boat would take weeks. By plane, they can take less than a day. Flying can help us go on holiday or visit family who live far away. People y for work too, working in other places and with people in other cultures all over the world.

But there’s much more to ight than travel...

More than travel

Sometimes we y without leaving the ground. At a company called Dendra, based in Oxford, the team uses drones – aircraft without a pilot that are controlled from the ground – to scatter seeds from the sky. These seeds are carefully chosen to grow into new plants bringing nature back where it’s been lost. In Australia, Dendra is restoring koala forests by planting thousands of tree seeds from the air.

At the moment, ying isn’t very good for the planet. Planes use a lot of fuel which causes climate change. What’s great is that aeroplanes are becoming greener every day. We take a closer look at how cleaner, greener aeroplanes work on pages 20-23.

Emergency air response

Aircraft are also great at responding quickly in an emergency. In 2023, Cornwall Air Ambulance helicopters ew 1,160 missions to help people in need, from helping 534 people who had been involved in accidents to moving 19 people from one hospital to another to receive urgent treatment.

Big transport planes are also used to deliver food, medical equipment and clothing to people in need during times of war or after natural disasters, such as earthquakes. The Royal Airforce (RAF) uses huge but dynamic aircraft that can carry people, a helicopter (!) and over 30 tonnes – the weight of six elephants – of aid to people in need.

The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service uses 90 aircraft to help people in need in the most hard to reach places all around the world.

©WFP:Benjamin Anguandia

The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) links people who are battling emergencies with people who can rescue, help and protect them.

Space flight

While some aerospace companies are interested in making space travel real, space ight at the moment is used to launch satellites into orbit or send astronauts to the International Space Station.

Thousands of satellites orbit earth – that means moving in a circle in space around our planet –doing lots of really useful jobs. These include helping forecast the weather, helping scientists see changes happening in our environment, sending messages, pictures and video around the world, and showing exactly where places are on a map.

1,160

The number of missions own by the Cornwall Air Ambulance in 2023

Number of places served by the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service each month. How far aeroplane passengers ew in 2019

From just above your roof to space, the sky is buzzing with opportunities. We take off to see where you might nd yours…

LOW ALTITUDE

Ground level to 500 feet High

Smaller drones or UAVs

(unmanned aerial vehicles)

Did you know you can y some aircraft while your feet are on solid ground? Flying drones happens down on the earth, but the potential is limitless. Small drones can be used for taking photos, making movies, delivering goods, and even on search and rescue operations. There are also people using powerful seed ring drones to replant mangrove forests. Picture a paintball gun strapped to a drone saving one of the planet’s most precious environments!

Mapping aircraft

Using aerial photography and mapping equipment, light aircraft can help topographers (map makers) plot out the lay of the land from above or even take a photo of your favourite beach. It can also help with vital information during natural disasters – like oods, earthquakes or res.

Farming by ight

Crop dusters are a type of aeroplane that ies quite low to the ground to apply fertilisers to farming land, which help crops grow. This helps in massive places such as Australia where modern cowboys can even use aerial vehicles.

Altitude isthe word we use for how high an aircraft is above the level of the sea. This is measured in feet. One foot is a bit more than 30 centimetres.

Low altitude aircraft

1,000 to 5,000 feet

Sightseeing and leisure planes

Small, light planes with either single or multiple engines (designed for more passengers) are perfect for seeing the beauty of the land below. Designed to y at lower speeds, they make leisurely and scenic ights for tourists and for people who y just for fun!

Wildlife monitoring

To protect some of our favourite animals, we need to be able to see where they’re going and what they like to do. Following the trail of animals from above, microlight and lowaltitude craft can be equipped with cameras and sensors to track and watch wildlife. Some animals who love to travel really far include herds of elephants, colonies of penguins and pods of whales.

MEDIUM ALTITUDE

5,000 to 10,000 feet

Low- ying helicopters

Life-saving air ambulances, search and rescue operations at sea, birdseye-view experiences and military operations – helicopters take to the skies for many different reasons.

As a helicopter climbs in altitude, the air gets thinner, so the blades need to work harder. This means that the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, is three times higher than helicopters normally y!

RIP Concord, 1969-2003: The highest-flying commercial airliner was Concord, reaching heights of 60,000 feet

Around 100,000 ights take off and land every day all over the globe.

High Altitude

40,000 to 50,000 feet

Business jets

30,000 to 40,000 feet

Commercial airliners

Dominating the sky at this altitude, commercial ights are used for travel and business, connecting people to further- ung destinations, linking up islands to the mainland and making internal travel speedier. Here, lighter air makes it easier for planes to go faster.

Flying higher than commercial ights; business or private jets are small aircraft for a small number of passengers looking for exclusive travel that can avoid air traf c congestion and bad weather.

Military jets

Soaring at this altitude means that fast-moving military aircraft can dodge enemy radars and detection systems. These planes move over the radar rather than under it!

60,000 feet

Large UAVs

Larger drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can y at altitudes of up to 60,000 feet taking pictures for discovery missions.

High up in the atmosphere

Experimental aircraft used for aerospace exploration and studying climate change – like the NASA ER-2 – are designed to y high up in our atmosphere (the layers of gas between earth and space). Flight up here is tough, but tells scientists a lot about our planet and the universe beyond.

70,000 feet

The U-2, Dragon Lady With its long wings, light construction and unusual landing gear, the U-2 is famously dif cult to y. It’s often used as an information-collecting plane. At this height, the pilot needs to wear a full pressure suit – just like astronauts do.

What

Look at all these images taken from a camera attached to a drone – a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – by the team at Different View in Plymouth. Can you guess what each is showing?

is it?

Is it a tower on a breakwater, large boat, or factory?

Is it a castle, church, or mansion?

Different View are photographers and lmmakers. As well as lming and photographing from the ground, they use drones that they design and build themselves to y up high – so they can photograph scenes from the air.

Is it St Ives, Penzance, or Newquay?

Is it a car, boat or plane?

Could we y from Cornwall Airport in Newquay into space?

Being brave, taking a leap into the unknown and learning from what happens, whatever the results. We talk to Melissa Quinn, general manager of satellite tracking and space data company, Slingshot Aerospace, and former director of Spaceport Cornwall. “A lot of people didn’t believe I could do it – and told me so! But I had champions working in space, so my main feeling was: I’ll show them.”

After completing her university master’s degree, Melissa Quinn was looking at this question. At the same time, the government wanted to nd ways to launch more satellites from the UK.

The plan was to make the UK a leading space nation. Newquay Airport was seen as a potential launch site.

“It was exciting – but a lot of people laughed at the idea of the airport being a spaceport,” says Melissa. “So the rst job was to explore if it was possible to launch rockets from Cornwall.”

After Newquay Airport was chosen for space launches, Melissa took on the job of leading the spaceport work.

Breaking the mould

“I knew the job inside out, and where I needed to take it – but I was quite young at 35, and didn’t seem to t the mould of what people thought a spaceport director should be,” she says.

“What I realised from running a space company is that you didn’t have to have a space background to work there,” she continues. “There are lots of different jobs in aerospace: from people who know how space law works, to people who could look at protecting our environment while working in space.”

What is a spaceport?

Taking a leap

In 2023, Virgin Orbit changed a jet so it could y into space. It was called Cosmic Girl, and ew the rst ever rocket out of Spaceport Cornwall –closely watched by journalists and people everywhere. All was well as the rocket launched, until its secondstage engine failed. The satellites it was carrying couldn’t be released into orbit around the earth – and were lost. How did this feel for Melissa?

Somewhere aircraft takeoff into space. At Spaceport Cornwall satellites can be launched into space, and it is a place to work on rocket technology, like how to attach satellites to space planes.

“For a few blissful moments, I thought it had all worked,” she says. “That feeling is incredible – and then you’re told it hasn’t worked and it’s a crushing blow. But it’s in those moments you can really show you are a leader.” Melissa realised that what she did in the next half hour would be the most important moments of her time at Spaceport Cornwall. “I owed it to everyone to face it all, so I went to the media pit – where all the journalists were waiting to ask dif cult questions about what had happened.

“Plans fail but if you give up, then nothing in this world will change. Get up from failure, keep pushing,” she says. “How will you learn from it? Face it and get excited to try again. That takes time, and there’s the sadness

to go through, but it will make it that much sweeter when you achieve what you set out to achieve.”

What is a satellite?

A satellite is anything that orbits –moves around – a planet or a star. The word is usually used for machines that orbit Earth and have different functions, such as to send messages or allow scientists to collect information about space and earth.

New challenges

“For me, what I needed was to challenge myself with a new role in a different type of aerospace work,” she continues.

Melissa is now general manager of Slingshot Aerospace, a company that keeps track of satellites and stores information about them that is used by businesses, governments and the military. It’s also telling people about how aerospace can damage the environment.

“The business opportunities of space are endless. But having creative ways of making the space business better for the planet now, and in the future, is my main area of interest,” she explains.

“We have some amazing space technologies, but we need to avoid lling orbits with space junk – we need different types of thinkers to help us do this.”

slingshot aerospace

Slingshot Aerospace keeps a record of all attempts to launch satellites into space and tracks how well satellites are working once they’re up there.

“Our data shows that there are now over 9,000 satellites in orbit – and 3,000 of them are no longer working,” says Melissa.

“We also see that the increase of future launches – from places like Spaceport Cornwall – and the number of satellites going to space, will make our orbits ever more crowded.

I hope that our company will be able to help satellite businesses be more responsible.”

HOW IT WORKS:

Cleaner, Greener Aeroplanes

When the Wright Brothers launched their rst successful ight way back in 1903, their idea changed the world. Today’s aviation and aerospace engineers are hoping to spark great change too – by making new aeroplanes that are better for the planet.

Here are two bright ideas for greener ight – and the science that’s helping them take off…

Airbus ZEROe 6 pods plane

Airbus is making hydrogen fuel cells which could be used to power a 100-passenger aeroplane.

It’s not ready yet, but the company is working on the world’s rst hydrogenpowered aircraft. It won’t create any gases which cause climate change.

What’s inside

Hydrogen fuel cells make electrical energy which is converted into mechanical energy. This powers the propellers on the plane. In this plane, there are six propellers keeping this moving.

Airbus is stacking fuel cells together to create enough energy to y more than 1,000 miles.

Why hydrogen?

Hydrogen makes three times more energy than normal jet fuel. It can be made using renewable energy, from the sun or wind. That means there’s no carbon dioxide (CO2) gas from using it. CO2 gas causes climate change.

Engineers are also designing aeroplanes powered by hydrogen gas, in a similar way to how they use fuel now.

Should we BE KEEPING our eyes on the sky?

Airbus is working on four different ideas for planes that use hydrogen. They’re aiming for the rst hydrogen aircraft to take off in 2035.

Boeing X-66

“The Transonic wing may help NASA and Boeing reduce fuel by 30%”

The United States of America (USA) space agency NASA and aeroplane maker Boeing are working together on the X-66. It’s an experiment into making a greener, cleaner, quieter single-aisle aeroplane – a smaller type of plane used for shorter ights .

© Boeing

It’s part of a plan to make aeroplanes in the USA y without releasing gases into the sky that cause climate change by 2050. Its most exciting idea: really long, thin wings.

On the wing

The Transonic Truss-Braced Wing used by the X-66 plane looks like a long, thin ladder! But it’s actually using cuttingedge technology to combine great strength with lightweight energysaving ight.

It ies smoothly, using diagonal supports to keep it from moving around too much, while reducing drag (that’s the way air movement slows down an aeroplane).

Supporting role

A longer wing makes it more likely a plane will experience turbulence (the unsteady movement of air around the plane, which causes it to bump about).

Making the wings thin means they’re lighter, but it also leaves less space for everything that has to t inside. The engineers’ challenge is how to make strong wings, that can have all the parts they need, and not be too heavy.

Those supporting bars make longer, lighter and thinner wings and keep the wing strong.

Results

The Transonic wing may help NASA and Boeing reduce fuel use and gases by 30% compared with today’s best aircraft.

Should we be KEEPING our eyeS on the sky?

Not yet. The X-66 research project is expected to nish in 2028, with another year showing how the new long, thin wing works.

Departure Lounge

Find recommended reads to sit back and enjoy. Be inspired or learn something new about technology, engineering, science, space and ying. Plus, activities to do on your next journey or while you’re kicking back in your own lounge!

Billie Swift Takes Flight

By Iszi Lawrence

A World War Two story starring the brilliant pilots you’ve never heard of – the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) who battled against the odds to get the air force’s planes to the front lines.

BRIGHT SPARKS:

Amazing Discoveries, Inventions & Designs by Women

By Owen O’Doherty

An introduction to 50 extraordinary discoveries, inventions and designs by inspirational women. Meet incredible inventors from around the world, and learn how inventions happen. A beautifully illustrated guide to remarkable, practical, skillful and amazing inventions.

Women in Science

By Rachel Ignotofsky

This book highlights the contributions of 50 notable women to the STEM elds of science, technology, engineering and mathematics – from both the ancient and modern worlds. It also includes fascinating infographics and an illustrated scienti c glossary. The scientist, engineer and mathematician pro les include Katherine Johnson, the African-American mathematician who worked on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

Flight

By DK Eyewitness

Become an eyewitness to the high- ying world of aircraft and the history of ight. This picture-led guide will take you on a visual tour of incredible ying machines. Learn all about the history and science of ying. Find out about how technology made ight possible, which tools pilots use, and how taking to the skies has shaped human history.

Get coordinating!

Coordinates pinpoint a place on a map. They’re used to set a location or to nd someone or something.

Coordinates are written as a set of numbers and letters. This code can be used to nd what you’re looking for.

50.15° N, 5° W

Latitude and longitude is used in global positioning satellite (GPS) technology. GPS is a spacebased radio-navigation system that aircraft use to plot routes. An aeroplane receiving a GPS signal uses at least four satellites to work out latitude, longitude, altitude and time – in other words, to place exactly where it is in the world!

Latitude and longitude numbers can be used to plot a position anywhere on earth. The latitude number shows the position in relation to the equator and longitude shows the position compared to the Meridian Line at Greenwich in London.

Find the coordinates for these ags and ll in the grid references on the left. Follow the example given for the rst ag [M8].

Then set out coordinates for a new shape and ask a friend or family member to plot the shape. What is it? Coordinate more!

Try some more coordinate activities with Aerospace Bristol and

What could be your path to working in ight?

B. C.

While lots of jobs in the world of ying share the same skills, such as good communication and working with computers, your skills and interests could mean you plot a course that’s just for you…

You’re a bit bored, which of these sounds like the best idea to make the day more interesting?

Creating an obstacle course in the garden and tackling it

Designing and making a den from whatever you can lay your hands on

Creating a puzzle that someone else needs to solve and watching them trying to complete it

There’s a special day of activities at school! You need to choose what to do from the activity menu. Which option looks the most fun?

Orienteering, where you need to nd places using a compass and map + solving maths problems you nd along the way BEFORE the end of the school day to unlock a treat

B. C.

Designing and building a solar-powered light + testing each one to see how well they work. The winners take home a prize

Entering an escape room where you must crack all the codes to get out, before the time is up + making your own ve-step escape room challenge. The rst escapees win a prize

A. Would you prefer to…

Take the controls of a new robot-onwheels for its test run

B. C.

Build a new type of robot on wheels

Create a computer programme that controls the robot

A. When it comes to taking on a new challenge, would you be happier…

As part of a team

B. C.

Q5 A.

Either part of a team or going it alone

Going it alone

In the future, you win an award. Which award would you most like to win?

Completing the lowest energy-using international journey ever

Inventing a propeller that uses 80% less energy than today’s propellers

Uncovering ight path data for the lowest energy-using international journey ever

You’ll be happy leaving the ground whenever duty calls or guiding unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), known as drones, through the air. The jobs you might enjoy as air crew could be piloting any type of aircraft, from a

helicopter to a jet for global travel – or forming part of the airborne crew of a large air force or naval aircraft. There’s piloting craft from the ground too, take a look at page 10 for more about UAVs, which are controlled remotely.

This includes many, many possible jobs, but all have a strong practical element, from xing planes that have stopped working to designing aircraft that launch satellites into orbit.

In the future, you could be making new ways to y that are better for the planet; you might be building new types of satellite or ways to launch aircraft; or being on-hand by the runway to x planes in need of repair.

Today this means anything from working in air traf c control to organising ights or keeping aeroplane information safe and secure. Computers are used in aeroplanes, airports, spaceports and

airbases and all need people to operate them, keep them working and design the applications (apps) they run. Astrophysicists explore satellite information that leads to new discoveries or helps solve problems.

Every aeroplane needs somewhere to take off from. And that’s not all! At ground level, there are lots of interesting and unexpected essential jobs to get planes in the air. How many jobs can you think of that are needed for ying but don’t involve being on an aeroplane?

Airports of the future

Every ight starts on the ground. Perhaps you’ve travelled through a big international airport, like Heathrow in London or Schiphol in the Netherlands, or visited a small airport nearer home?

Future airports will have to meet high environmental rules and be ready for brand new ight technologies. They might be 100% powered by renewable energy, from the sun or wind. They might use vertical takeoff systems –rather than using runways for planes to travel along and take off. They could be managed by advanced robots and arti cial intelligence (AI) and be able to support travel by electric aircraft.

What ground control role could you take on?

Safe skies

Our skies are criss-crossed by a network of high-speed aircraft – on the move 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Experts predict that by 2035 over 200,000 ights will take off and land every day.

Ground Control

Air traf c control systems keep passengers safe by tracking aircraft and managing their routes. System designers, safety specialists and the engineers who help look after planes are all hands-on careers in air traf c control. Our skies are getting busier... ...are you up to the challenge of keeping them safe?

Soar as a Data Whizz

Data plays an important role in aviation: it can nd the best routes for aircraft, ensure airports run smoothly, improve passenger safety and more.

Aviation data analysts use information to make decisions that shape the future of ight. Data also drives the sets of instructions that makes arti cial intelligence (AI) work. New AI tools are already helping pilots avoid hazards and bad weather. These tools can predict fuel use and ticket prices, and can also power chatbots that help passengers.

In the future, data and AI will be used even more – in ways we cannot even imagine yet.

Even though a lot of data has to do with numbers, you don’t have to love maths to work with it. Working with data and AI needs good communication

and creativity too, from being inventive to solve problems to making friendlier chatbots.

Becoming a data expert means working with cutting-edge technology to solve big problems.

Launch into cybersecurity

Your parents and teachers use cybersecurity every day, such as using passwords to keep smartphones and computers safe. You might have learnt about cybersecurity when going online, to stay safe from people tricking you or to avoid online bullying. In ying, cybersecurity experts are also trying to keep things safe and to stop people doing bad things.

For example, they make sure that navigation systems are secure, they keep passenger details and information private and stop hackers causing chaos by making changes to ight operations.

Cybersecurity experts are responsible for drawing up detailed plans for the security of aircraft, their systems, and airline passengers and staff. They also need to keep up to speed with the latest cyber threats. Being great at puzzles, games and patterns are great cybersecurity skills.

2πr(4x/2y)3

What is data?

/ 334 +A (x -y)2

Data is a type of information. It is often information in number form like temperature, time, amounts, or sizes. But data can also be information about people, objects or animals.

WOMEN

Location: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Role: Ground Lead, Operations Control Centre

Experience: Moved to the Netherlands from Turkey, aged seven. Nesrin wanted to join the world of aviation because she found it exciting ying home when she was little. She started as a check-in agent at KLM and worked her way up.

GAIL EASTAUGH NESRIN SENGÜL

Special skill: The rst point of contact for outstations around the world to x any disruptions.

Flight record: Making a career in an area where there are often very few women, from the ground up!

Location: Cornwall Council, Truro, United Kingdom

Role: Cornwall head of strategic partnerships for the Cornwall Space Cluster

Experience: Supported the rst mainland to island drone ight in the UK. Watched Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 take off from Newquay Airport to deliver satellites into space from the UK for the rst time (see pages 16-19).

Special skill: Acting as a translator across government, universities and businesses to bring people together. Flight record: Helping space and aerospace professionals in Cornwall work with each other.

ISABELZAERARUIZ-

Location: United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), Haiti, Caribbean

Role: Aviation chief

Experience: Received her pilot licence at 18 and has own in the skies over Cote d’Ivoire, Afghanistan, Italy, Mali, Niger and Haiti.

Special skill: Being able to think ‘outside the box’ to respond to impossible requests, like ying an X-ray machine to an isolated island with a lack of medical facilities.

Flight record: Changing lives through ights. The UNHAS team in Haiti has transported over 3,000 humanitarian workers and 60 tonnes of essential cargo.

ALICE GOODWIN

Location: Virgin Atlantic HQ, West Sussex, UK

Role: Avionics design and development engineer

Experience: Responsible for Virgin’s eet maintenance activities, making sure all aircraft systems are as safe and reliable as they can be.

Special skill: Mentoring and encouraging young people to enter the industry, particularly women and people from backgrounds that are underrepresented.

Flight record: Sharing her work as an engineer and highlighting this amazing industry to the next generation through Virgin Atlantic’s STEM programme, Passport to Change.

ABI MARK

MARIA VILDAVSKAYA

Location: Royal Naval Air Station, Culdrose, Cornwall

Role: Royal Navy pilot, with the Royal Navy’s drone squadron

Experience: Flying Harrier aircraft from aircraft carriers and on operations. Flying Navy Hawks and F-35B Lightning II. Training fast-jet pilots. About to become a multi-engine pilot ying King Air Avenger.

Special skill: Determination. After being told as a child she couldn’t make it as a fast jet pilot, Abi didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

Flight record: Landing a Harrier on the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious for the rst time in 2009, and nally feeling like a ‘Naval Aviator’.

Location: Gravity Industries, Somerset, UK

Role: Chief commercial of cer, nding and securing deals and contracts, as well as working on company strategy and investment.

Experience: Maria made the move from working at an energy company to working on ying suits.

Special skill: Not afraid to take on a challenge, no matter how big or small. Learning from doing the dif cult stuff has led Maria to the most exciting places, including working for a business building jet suits.

Flight record: Mastering human ight in a jet suit. Maria is learning how to operate the suit at the moment, and says even short hovers, connected to a safety line, are a unique experience.

ACROSS

1. Keeping the internet safe (13)

2. Taking sick people to hospital (9)

3. She ies the plane (5)

4. Where the planes takeoff and land (7)

5. Height above ground (8)

6. Perspective from above (6)

7. Our planet (5)

8. Where trains stop (7)

9. Essential for plane ight (4)

10. How the moon moves (5)

11.

(5)

Read each clue, work out what the word is and write it by its number in the grid, either across or down. You could ask a grown up for help too.

Down

1. Used to detect aircraft (5)

2. We breathe it (3)

3. Movement off the ground (6)

4. A base for launching spacecraft (9)

5. No pilot (8) See 11 across

6. Where the pilot sits (7)

7. Car, plane, boat. All types of... (7)

8. ‘Dish’ for sending a signal (9)

9. A super fast plane (3)

10. Where planes sleep (6)

11. Cornwall’s ‘Earth Station’ (9)

Aeroplane engineering, inspired by nature!

Take the natural iers quiz!

Q1. Plane designers have studied the shapes birds y in to see if they can be used to organise how planes y. What shape has been found to be great for streamlined ight?

A. ‘V’ shape

B. ‘W’ shape

C. ‘reversed C’ shape

Q2. Which owls did plane designers at aerospace company Airbus study to learn how feather patterns could be used for wing designs?

A. Snowy owls

B. Tawny owls

C. Long-eared owls

Q3. How have bees in uenced aircraft engineering?

A. With the buzzing sound that their wings make

B. With their ability to carry loads that are heavier than their own weight

C. With the way they y as a swarm

Q4. Which marine creature’s skin inspired aerospace company Boeing to add small grooves to the material they make planes, reducing friction and drag?

A. Octopus skin

B. Seal skin

C. Shark skin

Q5. Airbus has also designed a futuristic plane inspired by the wing and tail structure of the magni cent bald eagle. What’s the plane called?

A. Eagle Craft

B. Bird of Prey

C. Bald Aviation

Q6. Who made some of the earliest studies of birds and human ight, with a 1420s Ornithopter design?

A. Albert Einstein

B. Leonardo da Vinci

C. The Wright Brothers

Q7. What insects with amazing 360-degree vision have inspired cutting-edge cameras and sensors to help pilots during ight?

A. Dragon ies

B. Ladybirds

C. Ants

Back to the future

Wings made from willow trees, hot air balloons skimming the stratosphere, drones delivering the post, and high- ying Cornish pasties that return to earth frozen. The story of sky exploration – past, present and future – is weird and wonderful. Grab your boarding pass, fasten your seatbelt and join us for a ying tour of the major moments and the women who helped lead the way.

1784

Eight months after the very rst manned hot air balloon ight, France’s Marie Élisabeth Thible becomes the rst woman to y in a hot air balloon.

flight: past, present and future

1799

Jeanne Labrosse becomes the rst woman to parachute jump.

1894

Otto Lilienthal designs, builds and ies a glider with wings made out of willow and cotton that look like a ‘soaring bird.’

1903

The Wright brothers make history with the rst recorded ight in a ‘heavier-than-air’ ying machine. It lasts just 12 seconds. They’re assisted by sister Katharine Wright who is awarded the Légion d’honneur – a national award in France – for her contributions to early aviation.

1932-1937

Jean Batten, New Zealand’s greatest aviator, is celebrated for her series of record-breaking ights around the world.

1932

Record-breaking aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the rst woman to y alone across the Atlantic ocean.

1933

American balloonist Jeannette Piccard becomes the rst woman to reach the stratosphere.

1939

The rst fully jetpropelled aircraft ies in the sky.

1940

Beatrice Shilling helps design an aeroplane engine to make Royal Air Force planes better at ying tricky turns and dives during the Second World War.

1911

Hélène Dutrieu beats 14 male pilots to win the Coppa del Re (King’s Cup) in Florence, Italy.

1910

Raymonde de Laroche of France becomes the rst woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license.

1929

1931

Auguste Piccard is the rst human to reach the stratosphere – one of the highest parts of the atmosphere (the gas that surrounds Earth) – going up 52,000ft in a pressurised gondola attached to a hydrogen- lled balloon.

Florence Lowe ‘Pancho’ Barnes becomes the rst stunt pilot, working on lms in Hollywood.

1913

Katharina Paulus (Käthe Paulus) makes the rst modern parachute that ts inside a bag.

1953

Jacqueline Cochran becomes the rst woman to travel faster than the speed of sound. She goes on to set more speed, altitude and distance records than any other pilot.

1963

Valentina Tereshkova is the rst woman in space.

1986

The rst non-stop ight around the world takes nine days.

2002

Chris Kelleher designs the Zephyr, a solar-powered aircraft capable of ‘eternal ight’.

1970

The rst Boeing 747 passenger plane – a plane 2.5x bigger than previous planes – takes ight, carrying more people, further.

2010

Airbus develops the world’s rst all-electric, four-engined aircraft, the CriCri.

2015

The E-Fan 1.1, an all-electric, twinpropeller aircraft, successfully crosses the English Channel.

The online shop Amazon unveils a new hybrid delivery drone that can travel up to 15 miles at high speed.

2011

The world’s rst ying car, The Transition by Terrafugia, is cleared for takeoff.

2030

Expect to see crime- ghting drones in the sky, as pilot-free autonomous ying taxis pass by. You might even be able to travel abroad on an all-electric passenger plane.

Also in 2023, a Virgin plane crosses the Atlantic powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) – made from recycled cooking oil.

2028

You could be travelling in an electric ying air taxi that can take off and land vertically – and cruise at 120 mph at an altitude of up to 1,500 ft.

2017

A group of Cornish schoolchildren propel a pasty almost into space using a weather balloon. It returns, frozen.

2016

The Solar Impulse 2 completes the rst solar-powered ight around the world, travelling 25,000 miles without a drop of liquid fuel.

2035

Your holiday could begin with a ight on the world’s rst hydrogenpowered plane.

2023

Royal Mail launches the UK’s rst drone postal delivery service in Orkney. This could become a standard way to deliver the post by 2027.

2021

Airbus launches Air Race E, the world’s rst all-electric aeroplane racing championship.

Also in 2016, a Flirtey drone delivers a package containing water, food and a rst-aid kit. Soon after, the company tests a medical blood delivery drone…and a drone- ies an ice-cold zzy drink to a thirsty customer’s doorstep.

2022

Radian Aerospace starts work on a space plane that ies directly into orbit from the ground.

Design the Future of Flight

With inspiring women like Amelia Earhart and Jean Batten leading aviation almost 100 years ago, the stage is set for the next generation of female pilots, engineers and inventors to soar to success.

In as little as four years, your postman – and your Amazon driver – could be delivering with a drone. Powered by arti cial intelligence (AI), these airborne couriers weave easily through the sky, avoiding pesky obstacles like power lines and traf c jams before lowering your package to ground.

Visiting a friend in 2030? Forget asking for a lift: hop inside an electric ying air taxi and cruise over the city at 120 mph. The ASKA A5 – a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle – allows you to drive on the road like a car and take off vertically to y in the air. It could be available to buy within the next three years.

Design the Future & Win!

Flying cars, jetpacks, solar-powered aircraft, ‘space planes’ that can reach orbit from a runway takeoff, what should the future of ight be?

Design your vision of a ying future in the space on the next page. Then send it to us to enter our competition.

We’re giving away 10 TECgirls Guided Big Ideas Notebooks for the winning designs. To enter, ask your adult to share your design on social media with #ReachForTheSky, or they can email it to info@tecgirls.co.uk. Or, go old school, and post it to us at TECgirls, Hall for Cornwall, Back Quay, Truro, TR1 2LL.

Terms & Conditions

There will be three winners in each age-based category: Mini Makers (Up to 8), Space Stars (9-12), and Emerging Engineers (1316). Winners will be chosen based on the creativity of the idea and ability to explain it either within the picture or in a separate note. Diagrams can be used. It is not a competition about the best drawing, we are more interested in the creativity children come up with. To enter we need a name for the child, their age and the area where they live. Please also provide a contact phone number or email of the adult entering for the child. The rst name and age of the child may be shared with their image on TECgirls social media channels, website, marketing materials and within future editions of Sandbox Magazine. If you prefer you can use a rst initial instead of a full name. Anyone from any gender is able to enter the competition.

Pilot’s POV

Emily Curnow – pilot on the Skybus aeroplanes that y from Land’s End, Newquay and Exeter to the Isles of Scilly – shares her point of view (POV), from the cockpit of a Twin Otter, a small 19 seat aeroplane.

The day begins at 07:15 at Land’s End Airport. There’s always two crew onboard. One person checks the notices, such as navigation aids that aren’t working or airspace we have to avoid. We have a pilot’s log where we write down how the weather could affect our ight and how much fuel we’ll need.

Boarding

After the passengers have watched a safety video, we meet and greet them, helping passengers get comfortable and checking their seatbelts. Our passengers really like meeting the pilots and watching us y, as they can see into the cockpit during the ight.

Takeoff

We take turns being the ying pilot –taking off, ying and landing – as we do each of our six to eight ights. The other crew member is the monitoring pilot: talking to ground control and air traf c control.

“A ight to the islands carrying Prince William ew recently and we had to make sure we stayed out of the way of the royal helicopter that day!”

In the air

Unlike modern jets where computers control lots of the ying, we have ‘dials’ – clockwork instruments that show us what’s happening with the aeroplane and engines.

“Most of the time we’re ying visually, looking through the window to navigate.”

Landing

As we approach the island of St Mary’s, the monitoring pilot starts reading out the landing checks. That’s when we decide if we can land visually or – when the weather is bad – if we need to use the instruments in the cockpit to help.

We always try to land into the wind, because having more air ow over the wings helps us to land safely.

St Mary’s is a Category C air eld –that’s a site with the most complicated type of landing. The runways are short and narrow. It sits on top of a hill too. It’s quite a skill to get the landing right.

Back at HQ

Where we y, the weather can change at the drop of a hat. We might be delayed because of it, or get stuck somewhere around the route, which keeps the job interesting! Once we’ve nished our ights for the day, we’ll switch everything off and secure the aircraft. Then, after we’ve completed the ight log and voyage report, we can head home.

“We hear directly from the passengers exactly what they think about our landing.”

Propellers are used to help move aeroplanes through the sky.

What you need: scissors, a little tape, a drawing pin, a pencil with a rubber on one end or a dowel rod.

Step 1:

Cut out the square on page 53. Cut four diagonal lines from the corners only as far as the line shows, so the paper doesn’t end up in four pieces!

Step 2:

Then lightly fold each corner into the centre. Don’t press down too hard and create a crease line, but do hold the corners secure at the centre!

Use the template to make a propeller pinwheel: you’ll need a windy dayto explore how air makes it move.

Step 3:

Use a little tape to keep the corners in place. Carefully push the pin through the centre and into the rubber on the pencil or the dowel rod.

Step 4: Does the pinwheel spin freely? Test out how it moves by air alone. Make another pinwheel with a different design and compare how each spins.

Departure Lounge

Online activities to enjoy, learn something new and be inspired by.

Amy’s Aviation

Games, videos and a podcast all about UK planes and aviation. www.funkidslive.com/learn/ amys-aviation/

Harness the forces of flight

A Forces of Flight activity created by the National Air and Space Museum in the United States. howthings y.si.edu/activities/ forces- ight

Flying all day

See just how many planes are in ight at any time, anywhere! ightradar24.com

Choose a character, make it fly!

Use this tutorial and get to grips with Scratch coding building blocks to make your character y… scratch.mit.edu/ projects/editor/?tutorial=make-it- y

At Aerospace Bristol you can walk through 100 years of aviation history. The museum also has lots of activities you can do at home. Aerospace Bristol at home aerospacebristol.org/at-home-withaerospace-bristol

What Is It? Answers

Sandbox Crossword Completed

Instructions:

Step 1:

Cut out the square on page 57 and fold the top left corner to the bottom edge. Crease to form a triangle.

Step 3:

Measure a 1.5cm wide strip from the long edge into the triangle. Draw a line from the bottom but not all the way to the top – leave about 4cm uncut.

Ready to launch?

Drop your parachute and payload (the paperclips or object) and see how it lands.

What you need: scissors, at least four paper clips, the spacecraft or cargo box template over the page, if you’d like to land one of these!

Step 2:

Fold the triangle in half: fold the bottom left corner to the top corner and crease to make a smaller triangle.

Step 4:

Carefully unfold the paper. You should have four strips of paper still attached to your parachute. Use one paper clip to connect the strips together. Make a chain from the other paper clips or attach your spacecraft or cargo box.

Parachutes are used to slow down an object falling or ying through the air. We might just think of people being safely steered to earth by a parachute, but did you know they’re used to help cargo, aircraft and rockets land too?

Use this square to cut out your parachute!

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