What science and engineering is required for animals to fly? How do the laws of physics apply to flight? How does the biology of the birds and the bees allow them to fly? How have humans figured out how to do the same with aluminum and titanium wings and jet engines?

On Monday, January 25, 1999, eighteen high school students gathered at The Science House for the first of ten weeks of hands-on exploration of flight to address these questions as part of a Student Science Enrichment Program (SSEP) at The Science House funded by the Burroughs Welcome Fund.  These students built portable manometers to measure wind speed, performed experiments on lift force, visited the Mars Mission Research Center and laboratories in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at NC State, and ultimately performed their own investigations into the nature of flight.