Trine team flies to best finish at AIAA event

TUCSON, Ariz. — Trine University had its best finish ever at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) national Design/Build/Fly Competition, held April 10-13 at TIMPA Field in Tucson, Arizona.

A team of senior mechanical engineering students placed 43^rd out of 108 at the competition, a 12-place improvement from last year. The Trine team was one of three recognized as “Best Senior Design Team.”

This year also marked the first time a Trine team completed the second of three missions involved in the competition.

Team members were Hailey Budney of Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey; Dillon Dennison of Ithaca, Michigan, Matthew Edison of Russiaville, Indiana, Bryan Maida of Lockport, Illinois, Nathan Mast of Middlebury, Indiana, Ryan McDonald of Valparaiso, Indiana, and Cassidy Victor of Fraser, Michigan.

Design/Build/Fly

Now in its 29^th year, the Design/Build/Fly competition tasks students with designing, fabricating and demonstrating the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio-controlled aircraft.

Design requirements and performance objectives are updated for each new contest year.

Mast said the Trine group spent extra time consulting with area radio-controlled airplane pilots to make improvements to this year’s design.

“We began with dividing into different jobs and researching. Then, through the engineering design process, we decided on a design,” he said.

The team refined its composites manufacturing process and ran stability analysis tests to further enhance their design. However, frequent testing — and crashing  – took a toll on their budget.

“We made critical improvements on the structure and thoroughly analyzed the crash to ensure the same mistakes weren't repeated,” said Mast. “Through multiple tests, crashes and iterations we ended up with our final design.”

Three missions

The competition consists of three missions. This year’s event involved flying with an attached glider in the last two missions.

In the first mission, teams flew three laps with no payload or glider.

“Mission 1 went fairly well until the battery began to run out of charge, causing each lap to be lower in altitude,” said Mast. “Thankfully, the pilot was able to land the plane successfully.”

For the second mission, teams flew three laps as fast as possible, with as much payload as possible and the glider attached.

“Mission 2 went perfectly. We hadn't had a chance to test the plane with the full payload, so we were nervous going into the attempt,” said Mast. “The plane handled the payload well and landed smoothly.”

The Trine team was hampered by strong winds during the third mission. They were supposed to fly as many laps as possible with no payload, then release the glider and land the glider autonomously in a bonus box on the ground.

However, the plane crashed during its takeoff attempt due to the wind.

Though it ended with a crash, Mast said the team felt this year’s effort was successful and allowed them to develop manufacturing techniques that will help future teams to create more complex planes.

“The plane performed better than expected and performed to what we designed it to do,” he said.