If you have any friends and or even children aged between 11 and 16 studying at a school in the UK interested in design and or aviation then please point them in the direction of the great new Future Flight web-based competition which was launched last week at the London Airshow at Earls Court.

Devised by Kenji Takeda at the University of Southampton’s School of Engineering Sciences, Future Flight tasks youngsters to design the airliners of tomorrow for take off in 2050 balancing engineering, environmental and economic factors.  The Academic Team at Microsoft is also involved along with BAE, Airbus and BAA and the winners will get to go on an unforgettable VIP visit to the Airbus and BAE SYSTEMS factories where the A380 and Eurofighter Typhoon are designed and built plus there’s a heap of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 copies up for grabs. Happy flying!