The main purpose of the lecture component is to provide the students with the theoretical background required for their design and fabrication activities. Hence, it is kept quite flexible in order to be able to address current needs and problems. The lecture emphasizes the basic theory of sailplanes and their design requirements. The challenge for the instructor is to present lectures such that they provide a positive learning experience for the fourth-year, aerospace engineering student, who might have been in this course for the past four years, as well as to the freshmen, who might have no background at all in aerospace engineering.

After an introduction to basic sailplane related subjects, other topics are emphasized that are relevant to aircraft design, such as aerodynamics, stability and control, structural design, design and fabrication of composite structures, performance analysis of modern sailplanes, general design methods, and some sailplane history. For example, a brief description of existing sailplane designs makes the students appreciate the solution found by earlier designers facing similar problems.

Students learn in class about the basic design criteria of sailplanes. This knowledge is then applied in the design groups.

Beyond these plain technical tasks, the lecture also covers other, less obvious, but important engineering skills. These instructions include basic and general aircraft-design principles, technical report writing, presentation methods, as well as professionalism and ethics. Besides the formal lecturing, the student's skills and abilities in these subjects are constantly challenged through their design and fabrication activities.

Students take time before lecture to have an impromptu paper airplane contest