The Aeronaut Program of the NYDT/Young Scientists for Africa is – in essence - an online Aviation and Space Academy for the Youth.

The principal focus is on dedicated career path development, based on anticipatory profiling in the Aviation and Space professions.

Our Aeronauts - sometimes we call them the "Aeronuts" because they are "nuts" about flying and planes - all participate in practical problem solving exercises.

As vanguard  EduTraining Program, it is aligned to the National Strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology of the South African Department of Education and the management group of the Program works closely with the Directorate: Special Interventions.

The Aeronaut programme consists of aeronautical engineering design, flight simulation [virtual flight], and theoretical flight training in partnership with the University of Oklahoma.

Although we are based in South Africa, school and college students from all Continents are welcome to join the Aeronauts.

Our students participate in various competitions in South Africa and in International competitions

Students from France and the UK have participated in the programme, and visited South Africa on previous occasions.

The French students from Toulouse, France won a silver medal with their project in 2001:

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Team Blue, the 2005 Falcons Royal Air Cadets Team from the UK participated in the Aeronaut Olympics with their bottle rocket project

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Students from the Erasmus Gymnasium in Germany won a silver medal at the ESKOM Science Competition with their futuristic aeronautical engineering designs. It was the first time in the history of Africa that a team participated in the competition on virtual basis. Here are some of their designs:

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FLUX Webeasy donated the Virtual Flight Competition trophy. Mr Werner le Roux, CEO of Flux handed the trophy over to the Primary School Rooihuiskraal who won the inaugural contest in 2001

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Our Aeronauts regularly receive several awards fortheir projects:

Jerry Bezuidenhout won a gold medal in Aeronautical Engineering during the 2005 ESKOM Youth Science Competition

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Our Aeronauts participated in the 2005 and 2006 NASA PAV High School Competition.

In 2005 the Aeroant Team received the 2nd Prize [Combined 2nd prize].

In 2006 the New Frontiers Science Team and the Aeronauts participated. Both teams received honorable mention from the organisers as they ended in the top 13  [77 students from 3 countries participated; NASA received 40 entries for the competition]

 Shoki Kobe [Lotus Gardens Secondary School] and Dirk Reyneke [Afrikaans Boys High School] with the PAV model.

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Ruhann Steyn won several awards in 2005 and 2006 with his project on Personal Air Vehicles:

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