Planes Gliders Helicopters

Investigate the science behind various machines. Find out how and why they work, with the aid of cutaway illustrations.

Do helicopters need more or less energy to stay in the sky than an airplane? What pushes a rocket to leave the atmosphere? Why can airplanes have smaller motors than helicopters? Help your students learn the answers to these and other questions! Written for educators, homeschoolers, parents--and kids!--this fully illustrated book provides a fun mix of projects, discussion materials, instructions, and subjects for deeper investigation around the basics of homemade flying objects. With the projects in this book, you can spend more time learning and experimenting, and less time planning and preparing. Complete with download links to PDF templates that expand your teaching, this is your one-stop manual for learning about, interacting with, and being curious about airflow, gravity, torque, power, ballistics, pressure, and force. In Make: Planes, Gliders, and Paper Rockets, you'll make and experiment with: Paper catapult helicopter--add an LED light for night launches! Pull-string stick helicopter Rubber band airplane Simple sled kite 25-cent quick-build kite Air rockets with a parachute or a glider Foam air rocket Rocket stands Bounce rocket Low- and high-pressure rocket launchers

Take to the skies with this fun, visual miscellany for younger children who love anything related to airplanes and flying! Each double-page spread features a different group of fascinating aircraft to pore over, such as airplanes, rescue helicopters, hot-air balloons, gliders, jetpacks, space rockets, and more. Filled with hundreds of different flying machines from around the world, even the most avid young transportion fanatic will discover surprising new machines they haven't seen before! Readers can also learn how planes fly and pretend to be a pilot as they look at a cockpit from a pilot's eye view. Perfect for introducing young plane enthusiasts to a huge variety of exciting aircraft from around the world! Includes large, cut-away images, busy scenes with lots to explore, 'flying fun facts' and a search-and-find feature. Spreads include: airliners and cargo planes; the first flyers; amazing aircraft; jobs to do; military aircraft; helpful helicopters; up into space. Scenes include: at the airshow; a balloon festival; at the airport; formation flying; a rescue helicopter; anything but planes!; at the gliding club; a rocket launch. Cut-away pictures include: how a plane flies; inside an airliner; inside the cockpit; inside a rescue helicopter.

The story of Schweizer Aircraft is the story of the American dream. Three brothers became enamored with flight during the golden age of aviation. Aviation becomes their passion. In 1930, they design, build, and then teach themselves to fly in their first glider. They pursue their dream and create a company that eventually produces over six thousand aircraft. The company’s products make aviation history. Bill Schweizer tells the story of those early years — up to the transition of the company in 1981 to the second generation of Schweizers. Paul H. Schweizer picks up the story from there. The Schweizers’ entrepreneurial approach to business and refusal to let go of their dream resulted in the company becoming an industry leader in sailplanes, agricultural spray aircraft, light helicopters, covert surveillance aircraft, and unmanned vehicles. The diversity of its aviation products made it unique. At the time the business was sold to Sikorsky Aircraft in 2004, Schweizer Aircraft was the oldest privately-owned aircraft manufacturer in the world. It is a remarkable story that will inspire others with a passion and a dream.

Follows the development of design and technology in the world of aircraft from the world's first controlled, powered flight in 1903 through to war planes, airships, helicopters, airliners and the latest space craft. Includes a detailed chronology of developments in aircraft technology plus a glossary/facts page and index. Packed with facts and figures about a large range of aircraft.

Calling all future Amelia Earharts and Chuck Yeagers—there's more than one way to get off the ground. Author and physics teacher Bobby Mercer will show readers 35 easy-to-build and fun-to-fly contraptions that can be used indoors or out. Better still, each of these rockets, gliders, boomerangs, launchers, and helicopters are constructed for little or no cost using recycled materials. The Flying Machine Book will show readers how to turn rubber bands, paper clips, straws, plastic bottles, and index cards into amazing, gravity-defying flyers. Learn how to turn a drinking straw, rubber band, and index card into a Straw Rocket, or convert a paper towel tube into a Grape Bazooka. Empty water bottles can be transformed into Plastic Zippers and Bottle Rockets, and ordinary paper can be cut and folded to make a Fingerrangs—a small boomerang—or a Maple Key Helicopter. Each project contains a material list and detailed step-by-step instructions with photos. Mercer also includes explanations of the science behind each flyer, including concepts such as lift, thrust, and drag, the Bernoulli effect, and more. Readers can use this information to modify and improve their flyers, or explain to their teachers why throwing a paper airplane is a mini science lesson. Bobby Mercer has been sharing the fun of free flight for over two decades as a high school physics teacher. He is the author of several books and lives with his family outside of Asheville, North Carolina.