Society of Automotive Engineers Aero-Design Competition

[skispartan]

I haven't seen any postings for SAE's Aero-Design Competition so I decided to start my own thread. Feel free to join this discussion if you have heard of this competition. Hopefully we can share some sources and give tips to each other.

[lvmike]

ive compited in the SAE Aero Design east and west. I doubt that, many schools will want to shair information about there current or past projects. It allways was fun to try and glean a little information about competing teams from their web sites, or Press Articles from schools. The surprise is one of the big parts, thinking youve got this fantastic, novel design and then seeing another schools solution to the same problem.

Of course another reason there really hasent been any postings may be due to the fact that there is a dedicated Aero Design fourm over at the SAE site.

Fun comp though all around.

[JustinONE]

whats the web site of SAE?

I don't know why we bother having this forum on RCgroups, because no one wants to really discuss thier ideas, since it is a competition.

[lvmike]

http://students.sae.org/competitions/aerodesign/

[lvmike]

incidenty the no aerobatics rule was put in because of my school. after we realized we could not win the 2005 aero design west comp. (i think it was 2005) We made it look like we loaded our plane up with 60+ pounds of weight (the largest amount we could lift off the ground in theory.) With great show we heaved the "75lbs" plane to the runway fired up the engines and then our pilot shot off the run way in about 4 feet. (model had a 15 foot wing span and a better than 2 to 1 thrust to weight ratio empty) The crowd was shocked and our pilot (experienced in 3d) began fling loops rolls and hammer head turns, he finished off by doing a high speed run and then floating it on to the runway.

Lots of claps.... and a best flight award. need less to say they dont want any one else doing that again.

[Kelly W]

That sounds like Missouri Rolla in 2004? It was a great show! He pushed it hard enough that some of the covering started to come off the center wing section! Akron won in 04 with a built up yellow twin engine bird. It was pretty conventional looking. That was the year when the total displacement couldn’t go over .92 c in, so the competitive teams went with a pair of Jett 46’s.

I flew the 3rd place entry for UBC that year, and I’ve flown for them in 05 and 06. In 04 we placed a distant 3rd due to the fact that we were only running an OS 91 for power... In 05 we had a convention layout aircraft that was powered by a single Jett 76 and we lifted 48.9lb. On paper I was told it could do another 8 or 10 lb of payload. Last year we placed really close 2nd to Akron, falling behind in the presentation and report. It was still a good fight though and we cam home with the highest payload award again. I don’t this the aerobatics rule is all that firm since Akron only got a stern warning after their pilot did a loop last year in the empty flight!

We’re not entered for this year due to a lack of students (co-op terms) and I’m just too busy to volunteer again this year. Too bad, I really like flying at these meets.

Good luck if you’re flying this year!
Kelly