The Airbus Little Engineer A380 workshop welcomed more than 100 students at the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) annual Spring Aviation Camp, currently underway in Ras Al Khaimah from March 26 – April 6. The workshop, developed to inspire the next generation of innovators, is a reflection of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the GCAA and Airbus in 2014. Over the last three years, the Airbus Little Engineer and the GCAA have inspired more than 400 young UAE minds through their engaging, hands-on workshops. These popular workshops are designed to spark very early interest and ultimately motivate the youth into becoming the future aerospace engineers of tomorrow. The four-hour A380 workshop saw students aged between 13-15 years focusing on identifying various aircraft parts and enhancing understanding of both the manufacturing and assembling processes of the world's largest passenger aircraft. The students also got an opportunity to build an A380 scale model from scratch – from initial programing to understanding full take-off functionality of the aircraft. The A380 assembly workshop's prime focus is to develop the technical and soft skills and aims to channel the students' potential, encouraging them to use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in an exciting and engaging, team work approach. The Airbus Little Engineer initiative, an undertaking of Airbus Foundation, has been actively conducting aerospace and robotics related workshops amongst students in the Middle East and Africa. Today more than 3000 students have benefitted from these workshops. — SG
