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Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance

Grades 9-12: the forces on a wing, wingtip vortices, and...

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  • Apgujeong classroom or online
  • One-to-one or small group
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A three-dimensional plot of an optimized wing with its panel-method solution shaded by value
Quick answer

Is Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance a good fit for high school students in Grades 9-12?

Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance is a good fit for students in grades 9-12 who are interested in the forces on a wing and wingtip vortices. CIT offers online or in-person lessons in Apgujeong, Gangnam, Seoul, in one-to-one or small-group formats. Students make lift and drag comparison tables, a constrained wing optimization, and a wing comparison and selection report.

Students use AeroSandbox, a Python aerodynamics and design library, to calculate the lift and drag that air produces on a wing. They change angle, size, speed, and long narrow shapes one at a time to compare the two forces and the vortices at the wingtips, then set up an optimization that searches for a better wing within stated limits. After checking why a search stopped and which inputs matter most, they report the chosen wing and the range where the calculation holds. The student sets their own question, then designs and tests a feature, model, interface, or solution of their own. In an application or interview, the student separates the material they drew on from their own decisions, results, failed attempts, revisions, and limits.

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I appreciated that a simple early idea was extended into an 'AI debate tool'. My child has always been interested in debate and social issues, so seeing that interest connect to the project makes me expect a more complete and distinctive result.
Parent of a CIT studentTranslated from Korean. One family's experience; the same result is not guaranteed.Read more parent feedback
Age group
Grades 9-12
Academic subject
AI & Data, Physics & Space, Research & PortfolioBrowse subject
Course type
Course
Format
Online or Apgujeong in person · one-to-one or small group
Teaching language
Korean by default, with complete English materials
Curriculum status
Lesson-readyEvery learning item includes the evidence, worked example, practical work, and tutor guidance required by CIT's lesson-ready standard.

From open research to student-owned work

Students inspect a relevant public source, reproduce the idea, then add an original question, feature, or test. Every source is public, and each lesson names the exact page it opens.

How can I explain this course to my child?

If questions about the forces on a wing or wingtip vortices keep making you ask why, Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance lets you investigate the question with evidence, then build and defend an extension of your own.

Which interests suggest this course?

  • the forces on a wing
  • wingtip vortices
  • design optimization under constraints

What does the student finish?Lift and drag comparison tables, a constrained wing optimization, and a wing comparison and selection report.

Is this a good fit?

A strong fit for students considering physics, aerospace, astronomy, engineering, or computational science.

Course placement follows current subject and coding readiness.

Students should be ready to document sources, methods, and limits.

Advanced tools are introduced after a clear baseline.

What will my child learn?

  1. Explain the boundaries between geometry, operating point, analysis, and optimization objects.
  2. Compare lift, drag, L/D, Reynolds number, and 3D wing effects in controlled sweeps.
  3. Build a solvable optimization problem with a separate objective, design variables, constraints, and scaling.
  4. Complete a glider or high-altitude vehicle study with a baseline, convergence and sensitivity checks, and an independent cross-check.

How does the course progress?

  1. 1
    How Air Pushes on a Wing

    Compute baseline aerodynamic forces under fixed conditions and separate the upward push from the backward drag.

  2. 2
    Wing Shape and Tip Vortices

    Compare how angle, size and speed, and long narrow wings change the two forces and the vortices at the tips.

  3. 3
    Finding a Good Wing Within Limits

    Search the allowed wings for good results, check why the search stopped, and find the inputs that change results most.

  4. 4
    Wing Selection Report

    Choose a wing that meets the limits and report its results, failures, and the range where the calculation holds.

Students documenting and explaining hands-on work at CIT

What counts as useful evidence?

Lift and drag comparison tables, a constrained wing optimization, and a wing comparison and selection report.

What should an admissions reader be able to see?

The student sets their own question, then designs and tests a feature, model, interface, or solution of their own. In an application or interview, the student separates the material they drew on from their own decisions, results, failed attempts, revisions, and limits.

Useful evidence may include a reproducible simulation, parameter study, uncertainty analysis, physics explanation, and a comparison with expected behavior.

The evidence an application reads is what the student understood, completed, and can explain.

Systems Lens

The real research project this course reads

The student changes one allowed range in a wing design program and watches how far drag and wing length move. In class the project is separated into five boxes (input, memory, process, output, control). The lesson opens one of them, changes one value, and leaves the rest closed.

  • InputWhat comes in?

    The allowed range for wing size and shape, and the altitude and speed it must fly at

  • Memoryopened hereWhat persists?

    The list of design variables that have no value yet and the conditions they must satisfy, kept as expressions

  • ProcessWhat transforms?

    Computing lift and drag for a candidate wing, then choosing the next values from what came back

  • OutputWhat leaves, and who uses it?

    The chosen wing dimensions, its drag, and which condition was holding the answer in place

  • ControlWhat decides when anything runs?

    The test that watches how little the values still move and stops the run

The 7 files this lesson opens, named and grouped by box

The files the lesson opens, by name. The course is not a walk through the repository; it opens a chosen few and says which.

The figure showing aspect-ratio limit moving, and what gets watched

One value moves and everything else stays. The right-hand column is the prediction written before the run, not a result; the work is reconciling the two.

On a narrow screen, swipe the picture sideways.

Open the pinned repositoryOpen the flow diagramWhat the Systems Lens is

The universities and labs named here made the open projects this course reads. CIT designed the course independently; it is not an official, affiliated, or endorsed course.

The peterdsharpe/AeroSandbox repository on GitHub at pinned version 60998b5c3935
peterdsharpe/AeroSandbox on GitHub, pinned to version 60998b5c3935. Screen saved on 2026-09-02. Open this version on GitHub

Which sources were reviewed?

Catalog reviewed: 2026-09-30

Questions parents search before choosing this course

Is Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance a good fit for high school students in Grades 9-12?

Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance is a good fit for students in grades 9-12 who are interested in the forces on a wing and wingtip vortices. CIT offers online or in-person lessons in Apgujeong, Gangnam, Seoul, in one-to-one or small-group formats. Students make lift and drag comparison tables, a constrained wing optimization, and a wing comparison and selection report.

Can my child take Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance online or in person, one-to-one or in a small group?

Yes. CIT offers online and in-person lessons at its Apgujeong academy in Gangnam, Seoul, with one-to-one and small-group options. A readiness consultation confirms the available format and starting point for the course.

Does my child need prior subject knowledge or coding experience for Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance?

Course placement follows current subject and coding readiness. Students should be ready to document sources, methods, and limits. Advanced tools are introduced after a clear baseline.

What will my child make or practice in Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance?

The main evidence is lift and drag comparison tables, a constrained wing optimization, and a wing comparison and selection report. Students also document decisions, tests, feedback, and limits in age-appropriate language.

How can a student describe work from Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance in a college application?

The student sets their own question, then designs and tests a feature, model, interface, or solution of their own. In an application or interview, the student separates the material they drew on from their own decisions, results, failed attempts, revisions, and limits. Useful evidence may include a reproducible simulation, parameter study, uncertainty analysis, physics explanation, and a comparison with expected behavior.

How are the schedule and tuition for Aerodynamic Analysis: Compare Wing Designs and Flight Performance determined?

CIT confirms the student's readiness, goal, location, class size, and current availability before recommending a course plan. The consultation and level check are free; tuition is explained before enrollment.

When should a student start?

There is no fixed intake month. CIT reviews the student's current school term, readiness, and available hours, then names the point in the course where they should begin.

The teachers are always attentive and considerate, so we feel comfortable trusting them with our child.
Parent of an enrolled CIT studentTranslated from Korean. One family's experience; the same result is not guaranteed.Read more parent feedback

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