PUPILS from Denbigh have made touchdown after learning how to help fly a plane from the cockpit.

Five RAF Cadets from St Brigid's School, Denbigh have been awarded their Blue Aviation Wings at a training day after successfully co-piloting a simulated plane.

The training day, at RAF Woodvale, near Liverpool, asked the Denbigh Cadets to aboard the RAF's 'Part Task Trainer' (PTT) computer simulated flight and carry out cockpit procedures which do not involve aerodynamics, such as pre-flight checklists and monitoring the plane's location, speed and altitude.

This involved studying the physics behind the principles of flight, before taking off, flying a complete circuit and landing.

The pupils had already completed the PTT before the training day, which included flying in a real-life RAF tutor aircraft, the Grob G 115, so automatically received the awards on the day.

The instructor, squadron leader Dilwyn Owen, was said to be impressed by the pupils' demonstration.

Flight lieutenant Jim Roberts, who is also an ICT teacher at St Brigid's, said: "The award is down to the hard work of the young people, learning both academic and practical skills, and putting them all together to achieve."