Floating, Fluttering, Flying Machines
If someone in your family is interested in anything to do with planes it pays to take the
time to get into this product. Hardly a game, except for a few flying ones, it covers in a
jovial way, an enormous amount of information. Your language choice in starting is
German or (British) English, so that should prepare you for the accent and the metric notations.
Nick and Charley lose their kite in an airport, and that starts the ball rolling. There are six
environs around which activities occur - hanger #1, hanger #2, the weatherman's station,
the tarmac, the balloon and the control tower. There is information on how things work,
that includes birds, bees, planes, airports - and airport security, dirigibles, history of
flight, satellites. The information is interesting. I found out that satellites are
geostationary which mean that they turn with the earth and this happens because at their
height above the earth, gravity and the centrifugal force are equivalent. Also that CAT
means clear air turbulence and it can be pretty dangerous. Oh well!
The main game activity is to collect enough parts around the airport to construct an
airship that will fly and then race it. Activities off-screen include building paper
airplanes, instructions for making model planes, and various weather instruments. Plenty
of activities on and off the computer.
Editor Review 11/01
Ages 8 - 102
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