While some of my students have been on commercial jets, few have actually been around them close up to touch them or to look at the different design characteristics. So FoilSim is ideal for learning about aircraft and the concept of flight. Dunnigan says FoilSim and her own enthusiasm for aviation have prompted several students to take flying lessons with the Civil Air Patrol at a nearby airport. Diane Dunnigan with student Luke. What's useful, I believe, are the FoilSim graphics.
Students see the actual lift changing.
They find that really interesting because they see that the amount of force on the wing varies as they change other parameters. Sit by a window,' I tell them, 'and try to be over the wing. Like Dunnigan, Zakarowsky's enthusiasm in the classroom is infectious to her students. She is especially proud of two students who have really taken their FoilSim lessons to heart. This year a couple of my flight science students are applying for NASA summer internships.