CSU AIAA Student Chapter Participates in International Aircraft Competition
By Taryn Bradley
June 14, 2023
CSU engineering students traveled to the AIAA Design Build Fly competition for the first time this past spring.
Six students representing the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics CSU student chapter traveled to Tucson, Arizona, to participate in the competition. The chapter placed the highest out of all Colorado universities in attendance.
Design Build Fly is an annual event that brings together engineering students from all over the world to compete in a series of challenges with aircraft teams design and build. Over six months, students develop and manufacture an airplane that follows a set of DBF rules and restrictions.
Each year, the competition’s objectives and design requirements differ. This year, teams had to complete four “missions.”
Mission 1, Staging mission:
The aircraft and all its components were required to fit inside an airline standard, checked-bag-size container and be assembled within 5 minutes or less, as well as demonstrate safe flying characteristics.
Mission 2, Antenna mission:
A piece of PVC pipe was attached vertically to the aircraft’s wing, challenging the aircraft’s asymmetric drag. The score was based on the speed at which three laps could be flown.
Mission 3, Payload mission:
Weights were attached to the aircraft, and scoring was based on the amount of weight and the number of laps flown within ten minutes.
Mission 4, Static Margin Test:
With the aircraft suspended by its wingtips, weights were put on the aircraft’s body to test how much it could withstand.
“These were really challenging missions, especially for it being our first year,” said Daniel Zhou, CSU chapter president. “I’m super proud of our team for participating in this competition and putting in their time. We had a lot of roadblocks with things like time and budget, but we were able to work through and problem solve, even under pressure.”
The team manufactured the entire airframe using resources from a variety of CSU engineering laboratories including the Composite Materials, Manufacture, and Structures Laboratory, Engineering Manufacturing Education Center, and Engineering Research Center. “I believe CSU’s focus on hands-on experience with machining and fabrication really gave us an advantage when it came to building our airplane,” said Zhou.
Next year, the project will be adapted into a Senior Design team back at CSU. “As a chapter, we’re really looking forward to having more students available to help us with this project,” said Zhou.
One of the best parts of the competition was the collaboration and conversations the team had with other teams, judges, and organizers preparing them for next year, Zhou said. “It was a huge learning experience, and we got some great feedback from others.”
Zhou urges any student, regardless of their academic background to get involved with AIAA and join the club. Students interested in joining can contact the organization’s leadership team by visiting the chapter website. The team is also seeking sponsorships for next year’s competition. Interested parties can contact the team at aiaa.coloradostate@gmail.com.
About CSU’s aerospace program
The Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering brings together a collaborative aerospace ecosystem of researchers, faculty, staff and industry partners. Well-rounded academic and research programs across engineering disciplines offer students a hands-on, applied education. Whether it’s deep-space communication, autonomous UAVs, robotics or using and calibrating sophisticated sensors, students with a passion for aerospace have a home at CSU.