Aviation is a multidisciplinary subject that has influenced human development over the last century. Learning about aviation exposes students to principles of flight, earth science, aeronautical engineering, language, aviation communication and airmanship. In higher education, many non-aviation undergraduates participate in aviation related activities to have a first glimpse of the aviation industry and equip themselves with basic concepts. This study aims to examine learning perception among 82 university students who have participated in a series of online aviation career exploration activities during the pandemic in Hong Kong and China. They participated in virtual visits and career talks led by aviation professionals, hands-on flight simulation activities and online discussion in an online lab setting. A mixed research method was employed with the use of a motivational survey, teachers’ observation and semi-structured interviews to understand students’ learning perceptions. This study found that flying laboratory activities could effectively motivate students to learn aviation and improve their aviation knowledge. This could promote students’ aviation industry optimism, which may help the industry to recover in the post-pandemic world. This article offers recommendations for online engineering educators to use emerging technologies to teach aviation for future career preparation. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.