In April 2026, we had the pleasure of hosting an Aeromodelling Workshop @ The STEM Makers, a first of its kind in Vijayawada, by Dr. Anil Kumar Pasam, Ph.D. Aerospace Engg, Monash University, Australia, B.Tech & M.Tech, Aerospace Engg, IIT Madras.
8 students from class 10 – class 12, spanning multiple schools – Delhi Public School, Krishnaveni School, V. P. Siddhartha Public School, Narayana School, Bhashyam High School, Vijayawada participated in the workshop.
At The STEM Makers’ Aeromodelling Workshop, Dr. Anil mentored the students through 2 exciting weeks of exploration, experimentation, and hands-on learning. Each session introduced new theoretical concepts, followed by hands-on activities that reinforced either the concepts or key engineering mindsets. By the end, students didn’t just learn about aircraft they began thinking like engineers.
Day 1: From Curiosity to Concepts
Post Introductions the class dived right into the powerful question: How fast is fast?
Students learnt the concept of Mach number, understanding how speed of aircraft is measured, relative to the speed of sound.
- Speed of sound in air: ~343 m/s – 1 Mach
- Commercial aircraft: ~0.7–0.9 Mach
- Fighter jets: up to 3 Mach
- Rockets: 3–6 Mach
- Fastest man made object: ~36 Mach
These numbers sparked imagination while grounding students in real-world physics.
They also compared fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft, discovering how multicopters achieve flight in contrast to airplanes.
Hands-on Challenge: Tower Optimization
Students built towers using popsicle sticks and thread, aiming to maximize:
- Strength
- Height
- Efficiency
This activity introduced a key engineering idea: optimization doing more with less.
Day 1 ended with an intuition to Bernoulli’s Equation.
Day 2: The Science Behind Flight
Day 2 took a deeper dive into Bernoulli’s principle, helping students understand how differences in air pressure create lift.
Recollecting the discussion of Day 1 on the speed of different flying machines, the discussions expanded to “The scale of the universe”, placing flight in a larger perspective
Hands-on Challenge: Stick Bridge
Another optimization activity challenged students to build bridges using minimal material while maximizing load-bearing capacity reinforcing structural thinking.
Day 3: Breaking Down an Aircraft
This was the day aircraft truly came to life.
Students explored the parts of an airplane, including:
- Wings
- Fuselage
- Horizontal and vertical tails
They learned design thumb rules between parts of an aircraft, such as:
- Tail surface area ≈ 25% of wing area
Understanding Wings
Students were introduced to key parameters of an aircraft wing:
- Camber
- Chord length (c)
- Wingspan (b)
- Aspect ratio (AR)
- Angle of attack (α)
- Surface area (S = b × c)
They learnt about the influence of Aspect ratio on the performance characteristics of an airplane.
Propellers & Controls
Students learnt propeller properties and identification (~1045R) and learned:
- Why multicopters use opposite-rotating propellers
- Differences between 2-blade and multi-blade propellers
In addition, control surfaces of the plane and how an aircraft achieves motion in and about different axes is touched upon.
Drone Flying Demonstration & Practice
Students were introduced to the fundamentals of drone flying through a live demonstration, where they observed how to control movement, stability, and direction. Following this, each student was given the opportunity to take a drone home for further practice at home, in a round-robin manner till the end of the workshop. This approach helped build confidence, improve control skills, and reinforce learning beyond the workshop environment.
For many, this was their first experience “flying” and it was a turning point.
A significant number of new concepts were introduced during this session.
Hands-on activity : Material Exploration
Students measured density of different materials like foam, balsa, metal, and plastic, and discussed how material choice affects aircraft weight and performance.
Day 4: From theory to practice
Concepts became visual and interactive.
Students explored how angle of attack affects lift, including the critical idea of stall. By observing lift curves, they understood why aircraft cannot increase lift indefinitely.
Dimensions of movement for an Aircraft:
Students got introduced today to the fundamental dimensions of movement for an aircraft in flight – Pitch, Roll and Yaw, all intersecting at the center of gravity.
Pitch causes the tilting of the aircraft’s* nose up or down (rotation happens around the lateral, wingtip-to-wingtip axis).
Roll causes the banking or tilting of the aircraft from side to side (rotation happens around the longitudinal, nose-to-tail axis).
Yaw causes the movement of the aircraft’s nose from side to side (rotation happens around the vertical axis running through the top and bottom of the cabin).
Flight Controls Demonstrations
Using foam plane models, students had a demonstration of:
- Pitch (up/down)
- Roll (left/right)
- Yaw (rotation left / right)
All the students got a chance to practice the mapping of fundamental dimensions to movements of the foam plane.
Aircraft Control Surfaces:
Students got introduced to Aircraft Control Surfaces, and their importance in adjusting and controlling an aircraft’s direction and altitude. The control surfaces manipulate airflow to change the balance of forces, enabling the plane to move around its three axes of rotation.
Elevators that are located on the horizontal tail, move together to control pitch (movement around the lateral axis, pointing the nose up or down).
Ailerons that are located on the trailing edge of each wing, move in opposite directions (one up, one down) to control roll (movement around the longitudinal axis).
The Rudder, which is located on the vertical tail, moves left and right to control yaw (movement around the vertical axis, moving the nose side to side).
Flight Controller:
Flight Stabilizer or Flight Controller is a small device with multiple controls, corresponding to different plane motors and actuators. The flight controller provides stabilization to all of the actuator command signals so that the pilot can steer the aircraft around. Students were introduced to different cntrols on the controller and how each maps to the control surfaces on the aircraft.
Hands-on activity : Build a Rubber Band Glider
Students started constructing their first flying contraption – a rubber band glider using balsa wood, pins and rubber bands, beginning with the fuselage.
Day 5: Reinforcing Theory to Practice.
Building on the concepts learned in the previous sessions, todays session reinforced on how to control the altitude and direction of an aircraft. The session started with reviewing the concepts of dimensions, control surfaces, remote controller mappin.
Flight Controls Demonstrations
Using foam plane models and flight controller, students had a demonstration mapping the controller buttons to the actuators on the control surfaces thereby controlling
- Pitch (up/down)
- Roll (left/right)
- Yaw (rotation left / right)
All the students got a chance to practice the mapping controller buttons to movements of the foam plane.
Hands-on activity : Build a Rubber Band Glider
Building on the fuselage they built the previous day, Students added wings to the fuselage and the rubber band mechanism.
Day 6: Time to start Building
The workshop shifted fully into creation mode.
Students were introduced to the concept of SPAD (Simple Plastic Airplane Design) and the material for building an SPAD.
Students started with building the wing frame after selecting a foil shape and then the horizontal wing on the frame followed by shaping the elevators.
Day 7: Building the Fuselage
Day 2 of Building the SPAD, saw the students building the Fuselage. Using dimensionality ratios between fuselage length and wing span, students calculated the dimensions of the fuselage and the day was spent building the fuselage.
By now, students were making informed decisions:
- Choosing shapes based on performance
- Understanding structural trade-offs
- Applying everything they had learned
What started as curiosity had evolved into applied engineering thinking.
Day 8: Engineering the Wings
Day 3 of the SPAD build focused on adding vertical fin and fixed horizontal wings near the tail of the fuselage. With the fin and fixed wings ready, the focus shifted to adding the ailerons and the rudder.
Their models were no longer separate parts—they were becoming real aircraft.
Day 9: Adding the Motors and the Actuators
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Day 10: Reaching to the skies
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Week 3 : Modifications to original SPAD build
Based on observations from flight testing of SPAD 1st model, the students built their second model with the following modifications.
Made the wing more aerodynamic by reducing the imperfections of the surface.
Made the leading edge of wing more streamlined.
Reduced the cross section of the fuselage.
Introduced wing tips.
The 2nd model was lighter than the first model.
Video of flight testing of the 2nd SPAD model.
More Than Just an Aeromodelling Workshop
While the models and activities were exciting, the real impact was deeper.
Over two – three weeks, students:
- Learned to think analytically
- Experienced trial, error, and improvement
- Connected physics concepts to real-world applications
- Built confidence through hands-on creation
They didn’t just follow instructions—they understood why things worked.
When the Sky Became Home
By the end of the workshop, something had changed.
The sky was no longer just something to look at—it had become something to explore, question, and understand.
And that’s what made this experience special.
At The STEM Makers, learning doesn’t stay in notebooks. It takes shape in ideas, in models, and sometimes… it takes flight.
Reach out to enquire about the next Aeromodelling Workshop at The STEM Makers or to organise one for students at your school.