WIT Aero
Wentworth AIAA
Design-Build-Fly Team
Design Build Fly is an international competition run by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. Where teams from around the world compete to design RC planes to fly and complete missions based on real world problems from the Aerospace industry.
Design Build Fly 2022 Competition
For this years competition we started early working to build a flyable plane, by the end of the summer 2021 semester. By completing this part early the team could focus on adapting the plane to complete this years missions once they come out in September.
Our plane is made from an extruded polystyrene foam insulation. This is the main component of the fuselage, wings and empennage (tail control surfaces). I cut out the fuselage sections using a hot wire to melt the foam along the inscribed profile. The foam was then wrapped in carbon fiber, carbon fiber was chosen as it is a material that would decrease weight, reduce drag and is becoming a more widely used material in newer commercial aircraft. This gives us hands on experience with a newer material as it moves into industry use. The nosecone is first covered with a steel plate so as to keep it intact after a crash.