Aircraft Engineering
U of T DEEP Summer Academy, 2026
In 2026, I attended the Da Vinci Engineering Enrichment Program (DEEP) Summer Academy at the University of Toronto, a hands-on pre-university engineering program taught by graduate and undergraduate students from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. I took “Above the Horizon: Aircraft Engineering,” a week-long course covering the physics of rocketry, aircraft stability, and drone electronics.
The course blended theory with hands-on fabrication: over the week, my classmates and I built bottle-rockets, gliders, drone-controllers, and finally a custom-built remote control aircraft, applying concepts like center of gravity, lift, drag, and control-surface design to get our own aircraft off the ground.
Project Highlights
Studied the physics behind rocketry and aircraft stability, from center of gravity to control surfaces
Designed and fabricated bottle-rockets and gliders by hand
Explored the electronics behind today’s drones, including drone-controllers
Built a custom remote control aircraft and flight-tested it against classmates’ designs
Program Resources
Curious about the program? These are the official U of T Engineering Outreach resources for DEEP Summer Academy.