Student Designed Air-Vehicle Impresses 

A team of Embry-Riddle students has placed second in this year’s Design, Build, Fly aircraft competition hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

The competition, which is sponsored by the AIAA, Cessna Aircraft Company, and Raytheon Missile Systems, challenges undergraduate and graduate students to design and build remote-controlled aircraft capable of performing specified tasks. 

This year’s competition, in which 69 teams participated, required students to design and produce a medical support aircraft that could transport syringes and deliver vaccine vial packages. Perspicacious readers will note the ominous subtext inherent the latter criterion. Scores were predicated upon the speed and performance of entry aircraft, as well as the number of syringes and packages they were capable of carrying. 

The Embry-Riddle team dubbed its aircraft MULLET, an acronym for Medical Unmanned Low-Level Electric Transport. Several members of the 40-person team even grew their hair out into the iconic—if not passe—hairstyle, in the hope that doing so would engender good luck. The tactic worked. 

Dr. James Gregory, dean of the College of Engineering at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus said of the students’ achievement, “This is a highly competitive event, and this year is our best-ever finish.” 

Joseph Ayd, the Aerospace Engineering senior who led the Embry-Riddle team asserts the MULLET project entailed approximately 9,000 hours of work comprising extensive wind-tunnel testing, a crashed prototype, and numerous redesigns. “It was a lot of pressure, very fast-paced … It was so much fun, though,” said Ayd, who’s contributed to ten Embry-Riddle aircraft builds. 

That more than 50% of its members currently have full-time jobs, internships or summer research obligations was a point of pride for the Embry-Riddle team—about only half of whom were able to attend the April 21-24 competition in Wichita, KS. 

Dr. J. Gordon Leishman, professor of Aerospace Engineering and the Embry-Riddle team’s faculty advisor stated, “The annual AIAA competition teaches our students about the essential engineering trade-offs in aircraft design to meet specific flight performance and mission requirements, similar to the actual design problems faced by industry,” Dr. Leishman added,“Design, Build, Fly provides a real-world competitive environment focused on education, practical problem-solving, innovation and teamwork.”

FMI: www.aiaa.org, www.erau.edu