Exhibition of flight on lawn at Bristol Zoo Gardens

Airbus graduates visited Bristol Zoo Gardens this bank holiday weekend to offer fun flight activities designed to engage young people in their fascination of flight exhibition, and raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity in inspiring innovation, known as biomimicry.

The four-day festival of flight took place from Friday May 28 to Tuesday June 1st , as part of the celebrations of 100 years of flight in the South West of England. The exhibition was launched by Behrooz Barzegar, Vice President of Flight Physics at Airbus, who presented a custom-built wind tunnel to Bristol Zoon Gardens for use in their education department.

The wind tunnel, designed and built by Airbus graduates, will be used by Zoo educators to teach children about the physics of flight and to draw analogies between natural and mechanical flight.  Aviation itself is a great example of biomimicry, having been inspired by nature some 500 years ago when Leonardo da Vinci sketched prototypes for the first flying machines. 

Activities over the bank holiday weekend included opportunities to make and fly aircraft, design a new bat species, test the wind tunnel, and more. 

Bahrooz Barzegar said: “For the last three years, Airbus has supported the Livingstone’s fruit bat and its conservation project at Bristol Zoo to protect this endangered species’ habitat on the Comoro Islands. The conservation work that the Zoo does here and all over the world is vital, and I am proud that Airbus can be part of it, particularly as it is aligned to Airbus’ commitment to raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the issues surrounding its loss with young people.  It is also really good to see our graduates get involved in education projects linked to conservation because they are the future of the aviation industry, particularly in this, the International Year of Biodiversity.”
 

Dr Bryan Carroll, Deputy Director of Bristol Zoo, accepted the wind tunnel on behalf of the zoo. He said: “The support that Airbus is giving us is great. They support the conservation project in the Comores to protect this endangered species, and now this wind tunnel will help educate local school children about flight – both mechanical and natural - when they visit the zoo.”

ENDS

A global company, and one of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, Airbus consistently captures approximately half of all orders for airliners with more than 100 seats. Airbus in the UK is world-renowned for its centres of excellence for both wing design and manufacture. 

Airbus in the UK contacts for the media: Kristi Tucker, Tel: 01179 362746.