View source for Taking Flight

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{{Original Series Epbrowser
|prev=Revving Up
|current=Taking Flight
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{{EpBox
|title1=<small>The Magic School Bus</small><br>Taking Flight
|series=The Magic School Bus
|season=2
|episode=9
|image1=MSB22.png
|caption1=
|total_episode=22
|topic=Flight
|initial_airdate=November 4, 1995
|written_by=Kermit Frazier<br>George Arthur Bloom
|directed_by=Charles E. Bastien
|produced_by=
|producer_says_host=[[Producer (Malcolm-Jamal Warner)|Producer ♂]]
|producer_says_caller=
|focus_student=[[Wanda Li|Wanda]]<br>[[Tim Wright|Tim]]<br>[[Phoebe Terese|Phoebe]]
|production_code=MSB-21
|previous_episode=[[Revving Up]]
|next_episode=[[Getting Energized]]
|copyright_year=1995
|discovery_education= [https://gtm-media-3.discoveryeducation.com/download/v3.3/MSB_Flight/MSB_Flight_2Mb.mp4 English]<br>[https://dxm24f3wn5min.cloudfront.net/download/v2.8/MSB_TakingFlight_SP/MSB_TakingFlight_SP_2Mb.mp4 Spanish]
}}
{{Quote|Sometimes, you have to do the wrong stuff to find out what the right stuff really is.|[[Professor Valerie Frizzle, PhD|Ms. Frizzle]]}}
{{Episode Description
|series=The Magic School Bus
|serieslink=The Magic School Bus (TV series)
|be=is
|ep=9
|epnum=ninth
|season=2
|seasonnum=second
|seasonlink=Season 2 (The Magic School Bus)
|topic=Flight
|debutchannel=on all PBS stations
|debutplace=in the USA
|releasedate=November 4, 1995
}}
==Recap==
[[Wanda Li|Wanda]] and [[Tim Wright|Tim]] have built a model airplane together for the local model airplane show, though the former says that the latter based on "her dream and idea". Wanda has a desire to be an ace test pilot known as "Wildcat Wanda". [[Professor Valerie Frizzle, PhD|Ms. Frizzle]] then arrives via hang glider and says she was checking the wind conditions for the airplane to fly in the show. Arnold is worried that they will go on a field trip and shrink inside the plane, and Ms. Frizzle likes the idea. Liz turns on the Portashrinker and gives it to Phoebe, who shrinks her classmates and Ms. Frizzle small enough to fit in the plane. Phoebe, Tim, and [[Liz]] stay on the ground to operate the remote control as the students and teacher get in the plane, which takes off in the air. Phoebe gets a hold of the remote control and pushes the right lever down, causing the plane to tilt up. [[Dorothy Ann]] reads in one of her books that when the plane's nose tips too far up and slows down, it is known as a stall. Tim warns Phoebe about the stall and she pulls the plane up just in time to keep it from crashing. Phoebe and Tim then decide to land the plane, as the show will soon be happening. Unfortunately, as Tim looks for a suitable landing spot, he accidentally trips over a pair of binoculars and drops the remote control, smashing it on the ground. This causes the plane to continue flying out of control away from the school.

Tim, Phoebe and Liz get in the Bus and make it transform into an airplane. Unfortunately because of its impractical design, it cannot make moving air to create lift and stays standing on the ground. Meanwhile, Wanda is left unable to steer the plane, which suddenly drops due to [[Ralphie Tennelli|Ralphie]] impetuously turning a lever attached to the side down, which causes the wings to fold (he thought it might help them steer). The other students quickly push the wings back down and Ralphie locks them again as the plane regains airspeed. The class then learns that moving thin air is what's holding up the wings as Carlos and Dorothy Ann are still holding onto the wings. They fly through some bubbles, which visually illustrates the thin air moving across the plane's wings. 

Meanwhile, Tim, Phoebe, and Liz try to turn the Bus into various different airplanes. They transform it into a motor plane with ten wings, but it is still too heavy for the air to hold up and collapses. The bus appears to be angry with Liz for this. The class in the model airplane continue to fly through the air until the motor dies and propeller stops turning. Dorothy reads in her book that the propeller keeps the plane moving forward, and when it slows down the plane falls, or rather, glides down and eventually crash lands in a high tree branch.

Meanwhile, just as Tim suggests to Phoebe that they should try to find the plane on foot, Liz turns the Bus into a Wright Flyer plane and finally gains enough altitude to really get flying in the air. When The Magic School Biplane is about to crash into the city hall, Liz transforms it into a World War 2 era plane and makes it fly higher to the sky. While the model plane is still stuck in the tree, the class initially despairs of ever getting out. Wanda, however, refuses to give up and helps them remember the thin air moving across the wings as the factor that helped them fly earlier. The moving air also causes planes to lift, but then Ralphie and Carlos point out that they need something to help them get moving, then flying. When a bald eagle lands on top of the tree branch ahead of them, Wanda suggests that the class use the eagle to tow them back up into the air. [[Arnold Perlstein|Arnold]] adds that birds flap their wings in order to stay in the air and Ms. Frizzle suggests having the class use bike pedals to make the propeller turn. She also tells them how flapping wings can have the same effect as a spinning propeller.

While Tim, Liz, and Phoebe continue with their search and rescue mission, the class uses the eagle to get themselves back in air by tying one end of a rope to the plane. The Frizz then lassoes the eagle's ankle as it flies in the air and it pulls them skyward. The other students pedal with all of their strength to move the propeller and get the plane flying again as Arnold unties the rope, only to end up flying along with the eagle.

A terrified Arnold clings hard to the rope and gradually manages to climb up and onto the eagle's back. Ms. Frizzle points out to Arnold how the eagle is using its tail to move back and forth through the moving air. Arnold uses the tail to steer the eagle back to the flying model airplane. Wanda grabs the rope and Arnold slides down back onto the airplane as the eagle finally flies away. The class continues to pedal, only for the plane to go spinning out of control. Because of how well Arnold did with steering the eagle, he is given the job of steering the plane by pushing and pulling on the rudder flaps with his hands and feet. Before long, the plane ends up in the model air show, as does the bus-plane. Liz transforms the bus into a giant seaplane and, with her help, the class manages to land safely on its flattened roof.

Later, at the air show, Wanda explains the physics of flight (in [[Wings Are a Gift|rhyme]]) and she and Tim win the trophy, which they share with the rest of the class, wanting to give them credit for their accomplishments. Ms. Frizzle then concludes, "Sometimes, [[Wanda Li|you]] have to do the wrong stuff to find out what the right stuff really is" as Liz is seen taking a wild ride on the model airplane.

==Trivia==
*A technicolor version of Wanda's plane is shown in a split-second shot at the beginning.
*In this episode, the [[Portable Shrinkerscope]] has an AC adapter plug.
*This is the first time Tim accidentally breaks something by tripping on something else, the second is in [[Sees Stars]].
*In the producer's says segment, the Wright Brothers are mentioned as were their plane prototypes. Tim also mentions pilot Charles Lindbergh in this episode.
*Arnold riding on the bald eagle could be a reference to how his name is of Germanic origin and means "power of the eagle." It may also be an homage to Cody riding Marahute the giant golden eagle in the 1990 Walt Disney Animation Studios film, ''The Rescuers Down Under''.
*This is one of the many episodes that have evidence that [[The Bus]] may be sentient, as it is shown glaring angrily at Liz, who shrugs sheepishly.
*Going by production order, this is the 8th episode of Season 2, and the sixth and the penultimate episode of the season to be switched in streaming order.
*The Warner Home Video VHS and DVD releases do not have the closing funding credits or book promo. The Cinedigm releases use the same version of the episode as the Warner VHS/DVD because of this.
*Many of the planes the bus transforms into are based on real-life planes. These include the Caproni CA60, the Wright Flyer, The Spirit of St. Louis and the Spruce Goose.
*This is the first episode where Professor Frizzle is never seen in her trademark dress outside of [[Ride on the Magic School Bus|the opening sequence]].
**For Ms. Frizzle, it's in "[[Space Mission: Selfie]]."
<gallery>
TakingFlight-ModelPlane.jpg|Model Plane
TakingFlight-PlaneTechnicolor.jpg|Plane in Technicolor
ThSW8LZ940.jpg
ThLLF0SKL1.jpg
</gallery>{{Episodes}}
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