Wichita State University aerospace engineering seniors Adrienne Bottom, John Bird, Iwan Broodryk, Peter Fast and Allen Herbert competed in the international Design/Build/Fly Competition on April 15-17, in Tucson, Ariz. The team placed the highest in WSU history, taking fourth place out of 82 teams.

The DBF Competition is an annual, international competition hosted by Cessna Aircraft Co./Raytheon Missile Systems and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Teams were tasked with designing, building and flying an unmanned, lightweight aircraft that is capable of delivering supplies to frontline troops.

“There were so many students from other countries, from other parts of the United States and you are all competing for the same thing,” Bottom said. “You got to interact with all of these different countries and students, and it was a really cool experience.”

Wichita State’s plane placed the highest of those weighing more than a half pound. The only teams to beat WSU - Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Southern California and Purdue University - built planes that weighed less than a half pound.

Taking fourth place was no easy task. The Shockers placed above the University of Texas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Virginia Tech University, Pennsylvania State University and The Ohio State University.

“The WSU team and aircraft performed flawlessly, completing three unique and demanding missions as designed in less than 24 hours,” said Scott Miller, the team’s faculty adviser, and professor and chair of the aerospace engineering department.

Hot, dusty and gusty

The competition took place outside in Tucson, Ariz. The teams had to design an electric-powered plane that fit into a portable suitcase, something very durable, that one man could operate. The plane was to simulate a single-soldier unmanned aerial vehicle.

The plane had to be launched by hand and had to complete three missions; the speed mission, the heavy lifting mission and the volume mission. The missions simulated reaching a critical target, flying ammunition to the front lines and sending medical supplies to different locations.

“Competition was intense and challenging,” Miller said. “Tucson was hot, dusty and gusty.”

The conditions caused many teams to crash or suffer problems.

“We were working as hard as we could to make the best airplane we could for eight months without any idea of what anyone else was doing,” Bird said. “Seeing that all come together, that we hit it exactly how we thought, that we designed an airplane that for the class we were in blew everyone away, was extremely rewarding.”

Wichita State’s team said the most rewarding part of the competition was not crashing and not having to pull an all-nighter to repair their plane for competition the next day.

Broodryk launched the plane by hand for all three missions.

“To see it land after three successful laps, that was basically the pinnacle of my excitement,” Broodryk said. “This is definitely one of my top life experiences.”

Paying it forward

The WSU team was made up of five seniors and a slew of underclassmen. The seniors credited much of their success to the support they received from younger team members.

“I attribute a lot of our success to the underclassmen who helped us out,” Herbert said. “We could not possibly have done that well if it weren’t for the help they were able to give us.”

WSU’s five seniors made it a goal to pay it forward for future Shockers in the competition.

“We can increase the likelihood that next year’s team will have learned everything that we’ve learned,” Fast said.

“It really gets the younger students excited about the program,” Bottom said.

Team members said help from faculty and staff, feedback on the team’s presentations and the facilities at WSU all helped contribute to their success in Tucson.

“Clubs like this that actually get you involved make it more worthwhile,” Fast said.
Taking fourth in the competition speaks to the strength of WSU’s engineering program, said Miller, and what the future could hold for WSU teams at the DBF Competition.

“These students are among the best young engineers in the world,” Miller said. “What a team and what an accomplishment.”

For more information on aerospace engineering at Wichita State, visit http://bit.ly/hIA72N. To read more about the DBF Competition, visit http://www.aiaadbf.org/.