UBC AeroDesign
Our team will be competing in both Regular and Advanced class competition this year, resulting in a doubling of the team’s size.
Story Description
UBC AeroDesign is an engineering design team that designs and builds payload-lifting, radio-controlled fixed-wing airplanes. Our team strives to set students up to be assets in the professional engineering workforce, while uniting as a team to complete a common goal. This year our diverse team of 63 members hopes to achieve 3 overarching missions:
- To provide a second classroom for students to learn how to work on a world-class engineering challenge,
- To place in Top 3 at competition, and
- To promote interest and knowledge in aerospace across BC.
This year we will be attending two competitions – the SAE Aero Design Regular Class and Advanced Class. The Regular Class involves designing an electric-powered aircraft optimized to carry the most passengers and payload (represented by tennis balls and weight plates, respectively). The aircraft is limited by 1000W of power and a 12 ft wingspan, and its design process will teach students various aerospace engineering concepts such as airfoils analysis, flow simulation, finite element analysis, and manufacturing methods like laser-cutting and water-jet cutting.
The Advanced Class competition involves building a carbon-fibre electric-powered airplane capable of deploying small autonomous gliders as well as dropping water bottles and habitat modules onto a ground target. The challenge is designed to simulate delivering “colonists” to the surface of Mars and deploying appropriate resources for habitants. It requires a diverse team with skills in Mechanical Design, Computer Engineering, and Composites Manufacturing. After taking home a 3rd place finish in 2016/2017 and an 11th place finish in 2017/18, our team is ambitious to aim for 1st place this year against 75 other universities at the event.
Challenges & Impact of Your Support
With the addition of advanced class this year, the team has nearly doubled in size. In order to support such growth, the budget has also increased to accommodate more building materials and the need to send more members to competition. Without the support of crowdfunding and corporate sponsorship, our team will be unable to compete in competition.
About UBC AeroDesign
Since 1992, our group of flight enthusiasts and aviation dreamers have relied on corporate sponsors like your firm to realize our dreams of experiencing a world-class aviation project. Our team is made up of a diverse group of young men and women from 13 different engineering and science disciplines, all bringing different skill sets and backgrounds. UBC AeroDesign fosters learning by creating a safe environment for students to develop and grow their skills. To get more information about the team behind this project, please visit http://ubcaerodesign.com
