Remote-Controlled Aircraft Manufacturing
TEAM LEAD | MANUFACTURING | DESIGN AND SIMULATION DIRECTION
“Let's kick the tires and light the fires”
Visit the aircraft on display at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering Makerspace in Brooklyn, NY and read about how our team of six engineers raised $18k to build an RC aircraft, and place top tier in the global competition.
Part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International's Collegiate Design Series (CDS), the Aero competition is a real‐world challenge designed to mimic a typical aircraft development process and expose participants to conceptual design, manufacturing, and system integration and testing.
NYU Tandon established a long history in the SAE Aero event, competing almost every year for more than a decade.
The team’s aircraft placed tenth internationally and third nationally among nearly 40 teams in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Competition. Every year, around 70 teams from around the world gather in Van Nuys, California, for a chance to fly the model aircraft they built during that year. Competitors are given the opportunity to tackle real-life aeronautical design challenges by building an airplane in either the Micro, Regular, or Advanced Classes, and must employ innovative thinking to adapt with the evolving rules.
The 2018-year competitors were tasked with designing, building and flying a model passenger aircraft carrying a payload. In the Regular Class, the all-electric craft is built under rigorous technical requirements, including but not limited to size, weight, material and power constraints. Much like a commercial airliner, the plane holds separate compartments to carry “passengers” (tennis balls) and “luggage” (metal plates) in a tight fuselage. The aircraft, manufactured mostly out of foam and wood, weighs 38 pounds fully loaded and has a wingspan of 12 feet, making it among the largest at the competition.
WingingIt completed five flights with 18 passengers and a total of 37 pounds of payload carried across all rounds, or as the pilots would say “WingingIt is carrying 48 souls on board;” that is the highest achieved in this category by an NYU team so far.
Performance at the event is determined by the successful completion of flight rounds while carrying as much payload as possible. The team also credits their pilot, Matt Carroll, for his skillful flying; Team Captain and lead Manufacturing Engineer, Luciana Jaalouk, comments “he kept the plane under control at some tricky moments, even at takeoff through heavy crosswinds.” She attributes their consistent flight success to their “sturdy large wings and airfoil and motor choice.” Electronics Engineer, Marc Rozman, states “the majority of the planes at the event were either unable to take off or crashed. Since the team didn’t have prior experience in designing airplanes, having the plane airborne was the number one priority.”
WingingIt was one of the few teams to have test flown their aircraft prior to the competition, allowing time for required modifications and improvements. The team completed manufacturing by the end of February 2018, “the fastest anyone at NYU had the aircraft ready for test flight,” said Joseph Borowiec, team Advisor and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Industry Professor, “and rebuilt their entire fuselage within two weeks only of their first test flight. They performed admirably at the competition, and in addition to their teamwork, they demonstrated strong technical knowledge and tactical skill; I was proud to have them representing NYU Tandon on this important international stage.”
The initial test flight.
WingingIt stalled and crashed, with grace
The flight day.
WingingIt on the Runway
