Birds and planes
In this activity, students explore the importance of wing shape and size and how this determines the flight capabilities of birds and planes.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
understand wing loading and work out some simple wing loads
recognise low and high wing aspect ratios of birds and planes
explain in a simple and general way how differences in wing size and shape affect the capabilities (such as speed, gliding and manoeuvrability) of a plane or bird.
Godwit in flight
Godwits are equipped for long-distance flight. They can fly further than any other known bird.
Download the Word file (see below) for:
introduction/background notes
answers and explanations for student activities
what you need
what to do
student worksheets.
Related content
To support this article read the articles Wing loading and Wing aspect ratio to find out about wing loading and aspect ratio.
