Projects

In 2018 our team competed in the the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) International Aero Design competition. This particular year was our first time competing in the advanced category of the competition. This came with a number of challenges that we had to overcome, including switching to a gas powered propulsion system.

Our team designed built, and tested this aircraft over the course of 6 months, and competed in the Aero Design East competition in Florida that year. Unfortunately, having suffered some damage to the aircraft during testing, and a subsequent catastrophic first flight in Florida, we were unable to finish the flight portion of the competition that year.

However, due to the quality of our design report and presentation, we still came in 8th place out of 18 teams.

That year we experimented with carbon fiber layups, and the end result was the largest plane we had ever built, with a wingspan of 173 inches (~14 feet). However, the size of the plane did play a factor in causing the crashes we experienced during testing and at the competition.