Aggie Aircraft Soars

The Aggie Micro Aeronautics Team (AMAT) placed fourth in a field of 49 competitors in the Aero Design West Competition in Encino, California, in June.

The contest challenges engineering students to conceive, design, fabricate and test a radio-controlled aircraft that can take off and land while carrying the maximum cargo. Such collegiate design competitions give students the chance to apply classroom knowledge to a practical problem by producing and testing a real vehicle.

The guidelines for the contest change each year in order to influence creative design, with each team using the same .61 cubic inch OSFX model engine that cannot be modified in any way. This year the wing span had to be 92.488 inches or 2.4 meters, while the payload was a fully contiguous enclosed space of 3 x 5 x 16 inches and the cargo.

The rest is creativity and daring. For example, the double element airfoil of the wing design AMAT employed has never been used successfully by any other team. It was based on a design by their professor, Dr. Jean-Jacques Chattot, professor of aeronautical engineering and chair of the department of mechanical and aeronautical engineering. The wing's design and the larger tail of the craft shift the center of balance back on the fuselage, allowing increased lift to carry more weight. The wing, equipped with high tensile carbon spars, is a creative way to produce lift if you can make it fly.

The team's co-leaders, Alex Russell and Garrett Brugh, started working on the project last summer, visiting with industry representatives to raise funds for their team. “We learned so much from this,” Russell said. “How to talk to business people and how to develop contacts in industry. If that's not a good way to get a foot in the door, I don't know what is.”

The year leading up to the competition was intense and consuming. “We learned and practiced valuable leadership skills,” Russell said, grinning. He will serve as an advisor for next year's AMAT captain.

The team members also acquired experiences that have helped to define their career plans. Russell, who designed the fuselage of fiberglass and carbon fiber over foam, had no previous experience with composites manufacturing. “Now, I'm going to do this in graduate school,” he said and will begin this fall in the UC Davis College of Engineering, with Professor Valeria La Saponara. His ultimate goal is to work in industry designing small aircraft that he can fly himself. He recently acquired his pilot's license.

Interestingly, after the year of hard work that tested the team in so many ways, AMAT did not have time to test the aircraft before the competition. “So, when it flew and flew well, the whole team jumped into the air,” Russell said. “That was amazing fun.”