UMN’s Design, Build, Fly team ties for 11th in 24th Annual AIAA/Textron Aviation/Raytheon Missile Systems Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition

The University of Minnesota Design, Build, Fly (DBF) team tied for 11th place at this year’s 24th annual AIAA/Textron Aviation/Raytheon Missile Systems Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition with a score of 87, making it a three-way tie with University of Notre Dame and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.   The University’s team consists of students from Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (AEM), Chemical Engineering  and Materials Science, Computer Science and Engineering , and Electrical and Computer  Engineering. AEM Instructor Chris Regan is the team’s faculty advisor.   

Teams from all around the world competed with the University of Southern California taking first place with a score of 93. The competition included two components—a fly-off and a formal report.  A total of 113 teams were selected to complete out of 143 proposals.  Out of the 113 teams selected, 101 teams submitted formal report which were scored for design and manufacturing and testing plans. The competition was originally scheduled to take place from April 16 to 19 in Wichita, Kansas. For the 24th annual Design Build Fly Competition, the fly-off portion was canceled, and only final formal report scores were taken into account.

This year’s theme was a Banner Towing Bush Plane. Along with a timed ground mission, the competition encompassed three main missions that included a test flight, charter mission, and banner flight. More details on the mission requirements can be found at the competition website: http://www.aiaadbf.org. 

Despite the changes and restrictions, the DBF team surpassed challenges and performed well. Congratulations!

AIAA has also compiled footage of teams flying their planes at home. The full list of submissions can be seen here. The UMN Team’s video is here.