And while they’ll have to wait several years for their dreams to take flight, dozens of bayside aviation students have enjoyed a taste of what’s to come.

Iona College pupils tested their piloting skills on high-tech flight simulators worth up to $90,000, earlier this month.

Manufacturer GeoSim Technologies set up an expensive Piper Warrior simulator in a trailer on the school grounds for three days and brought a smaller helicopter device into the Aviation and Aerospace Studies classroom.

Daniel Norton, of Birkdale, and Daniel Scandar, of Mount Cotton, sat in the trailer cockpit, took off from a recreated Brisbane Airport runway and flew towards Redland Bay.

“It’s really good because we’ve got all the gauges,” 16-year-old aspiring pilot Daniel Scandar said.

“Also it gives you the kind of visibility you get on a plane as well.”

GeoSim Technologies managing director Charles du Plessis, whose father flew aircraft for 53 years, said he spent three months each year bringing the simulators to schools.

Iona College is one of 17 Queensland schools and colleges offering Aviation and Aerospace Studies.