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  • 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 loading1 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.
    Rights: Dr Phil Battley

    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.

    Activity idea

    Observing wings for flight has suggestions on how to use the interactive Wings for flight graphic organiser. Wings for flight is useful as a pre-test and/or post-test for summative assessment.

    1. wing loading: The loaded weight of an aircraft or weight of a bird divided by the total surface area of the wings.
    Published 21 September 2011, Updated 19 July 2021 Referencing Hub articles
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        wing loading

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      2. The loaded weight of an aircraft or weight of a bird divided by the total surface area of the wings.