Science News

Girl’s Engineering the skies for IWD - March 4th

Tasha S (Year 9) and I went to Moorabbin Airport where we learnt about different career paths such as flight attendants, pilots, air traffic controllers, maintenance crew and mechanical engineers.  

We visited the Air traffic control tower. 

We learnt about how the air traffic controllers do their job at Moorabbin airport.

We also learnt how pilots and air traffic controllers communicate effectively to take off and land safely. They discussed what the different types of buttons and controls do and how the altitude of a plane is determined 

We then had a tour of the Moorabbin Airport Museum

Our tour guide discussed the evolution of airplanes from the Wright Brothers invention to the modern day plane. It was then discussed how the development of the aerospace industry boomed in war time.

Afterwards we went to a place called MicroFlite and we got to go on a tour of the facility. 

They explained how scanning helicopters are used in bushfires.  The helicopter scans the landscape to help firefighters and water dropping helicopters know where the extreme fires are and where to drop water and retardant. 

We looked at different water dropping helicopters, such as the Helitack 331, Sikorsky EH-60A (S-70A) N61AA and Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane. 

We then got to go inside a warehouse where we were shown how they do maintenance on planes and helicopters. Lastly, we participated in a plane building competition. 

We made a plane using balsa wood, masking tape and a box cutter knife.  We then tested which plane flew the furthest.

Elena Z (year 10)