The “Reach for the Sky” Challenge Fund from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Department for Transport (DfT) is an annual competition (now in its 4th year) to support projects which help encourage young people to think about career options in aviation, as it’s a field that needs lots of new skills and new people. Around 10 projects are funded every year and the latest crop of funded projects has just been announced. I thought teachers might be interested to know about two of them in particular as they relate to computer science (and provide free STEM events for schools primarily in England [a condition of the funding]).

Both of these projects were also funded in last year’s Reach for the Sky round too. More details on the projects below – their names are Code4Drones and Get With The Program.

Aviation is certainly a sector that needs people with computer science (coding / problem-solving etc) skills whether that’s in designing new wing shapes, quieter engines or the software to run the aircraft or support passengers in booking tickets. We have a CS4FN portal with articles on Aviation and aerospace – computing and flight…

Aviation and aerospace – computing and flight

… and a page on the TechDevJobs site highlighting some examples of real job adverts that mix aviation with computing: Jobs in aviation and aerospace.

Jobs in aviation and aerospace

The computing-themed projects, funded by ‘Reach for the Sky’

You can see the full range of projects funded by the DfT and CAA from the UK Government’s press release about the fund: “Young people encouraged to Reach for the Sky as government announces £750,000 to create the next generation of aviators – funding ensures young people from all backgrounds can learn about the varied, highly skilled jobs and future opportunities in aviation across the UK” (12 December 2025).

Code4Drones

Code4Drones provides fully funded Drone Coding STEM Days to primary and secondary schools across England!

Note that at the moment the page references the 2025 sessions so bookmark the page for the events in 2026 or contact them to find out when bookings are open again.

“Students will first be taught the science and basic principles of flight that enables a drone to take off from the ground and fly. Fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including computational thinking, mathematical logic and algorithms will then be explained and demonstrated.”
From: https://www.code4drones.co.uk/stem-enrichment-days

Get With The Program

The FREE Moon Landing Coding Adventure is an “exciting, engaging adventure (which) teaches young students (from the age of 5 to 8) coding concepts whilst they learn all about the first moon landing!”

Last year their Reach for the Sky funding enabled them to offer the sessions free to 250 schools in England (a paid-for version is also available) and you can use the form on that page to nominate your school for one of the free events thanks to CAA / DfT funding.