AA team takes 1st place place in AIAA design-build-fly competition

A student team from MIT's Aero-Astro Department took First Place in the 11th annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design/Build/Fly competition. The competition, held the weekend of April 20th in Tucson, AZ, is the culmination of a year-long development cycle in which student teams design, build, and test fly radio-controlled aircraft to comply with rules released at the beginning of the school year. This year, the aircraft were required to carry two different payloads and perform two ground missions, which involved readying the aircraft for flight as quickly as possible and swapping the two payloads. Scoring favored small, light aircraft, and MIT capitalized with a two-foot span biplane weighing less than two pounds. The next lightest aircraft weighed five pounds. The team of eight Aero-Astro students (George Kiwada G, Nii Armar G, Carl Engel '07, Adam Woodworth '07, Brandon Suarez '09, Ryan Castonia '09, David Sanchez '09, and Fuzhou Hu '09) finished first with a score of 273 points, besting the second place team from Oklahoma State University by more than a factor of two, and ending OSU's three-year winning streak. Aero-Astro Professor David Miller advised the team with the help of Professor Mark Drela, lecturer Col. Pete Young, and research specialist Paul Bauer.

Noted aircraft designer Robert Liebeck, an AA Professor of the Practice and head of Boeing's Blended Wing aircraft project, called the winning aircraft "distinct in its simplicity, distinct in its functionality," and added, "As an airplane designer guy, I feel a bit humble."

The winning team: (front, from left) Nii Armar (G), Ryan Castonia '09, Carl Engel '07, Fuzhou Hu '09, (back) Brandon Suarez '09, David Sanchez '09, George Kiwada (G), Adam Woodworth '07 .