iGA Istanbul Airport has kicked started 2024 with the announcement that it has opened the first Newton Flight Academy in Turkey. The training project is a collaboration with Boeing, iGA Istanbul Airport, FIRST Scandinavia and the Science Heroes Association. The project will see students from STEM curriculums offered the chance to learn basic flight principles and skills, introducing them to the world of aviation.
The launch event was held at the Newton Flight Academy at the iGA Campus, and was attended by the project partners, representatives from institutions and organisations operating in the field of aviation and education, as well as Istanbul Airport Civil Administrator, İlker Haktankaçmaz, US consul general in Istanbul, Julie Eadeh, and Arnavutköy district director of national education, Hasip Turhan. The activities of the Newton Flight Academy, designed by FIRST Scandinavia, a non-profit foundation based in Norway, and implemented with the support of Boeing and hosted by iGA Istanbul Airport, will be carried out by the Science Heroes Association, a non-profit organisation specialising in science education. The centre, which has a total of six flight simulators – three full-motion and three fixed (similar to those used in professional training) – and a laboratory area, offers students between the ages of 11 and 18 the opportunity to learn basic flight principles through hands-on experience.
Within the scope of the programme, mathematical calculation, navigation, meteorology, aerodynamics and biofuel subjects will be offered to students within the scope of a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum. As part of this programme, students will prepare and plan a flight in small groups using specially prepared education modules and experience in the simulators. The project is a huge opportunity for students to learn and experience the joys of the unique world of aviation. Selahattin Bilgen, acting CEO of iGA Istanbul Airport says: “Introducing the aviation industry to young people and interacting with our society to promote the industry is one of our main goals with the Newton Flight Academy, alongside our sustainability approach. We believe that it is an integrative project for iGA Istanbul Airport which we position as the centre of aviation in Türkiye.”
Bilgen continued: “For the last two years, we have opened our doors to more than a thousand intern students annually, and recently we were proud to be the ‘Private Sector Organisation Offering the Most Internship Opportunities’ in our country.” Ayşem Sargın, general manager of Boeing Türkiye and Central Asia said: “We brought the Newton training programme to Türkiye for the first time with the Newton Mobile Science Workshop, which we launched last year. Over the past year and a half, we have introduced thousands of young people who visited our mobile science workshop to applied STEM education and the scientific foundations of aviation. In 2024, we plan to take our Newton Mobile Science Workshop to the regions where young people affected by the earthquake live, in co-operation with Turkish Airlines. We are happy to take our activities in this field even further with the opening of the Newton Flight Academy. We would like to thank iGA Istanbul Airport, FIRST Scandinavia and the Science Heroes Association for their contributions to this project for the future of Türkiye’s growing aviation industry and the young people to whom we will entrust the new century of the Republic.” Newton Flight Academy also constitutes the second phase of the Newton concept in Türkiye. Launched on 28 April 2022 in collaboration with Boeing, FIRST Scandinavia and Science Heroes, the Newton Mobile Science Workshop has since hosted more than 2,000 middle and high school students at three different locations in Istanbul. The workshop is planning to go on tour visiting schools in different cities in Anatolia during the coming period.
