Our Crowdfunding Groups
Thank you to everyone who made a gift to this project! While this round of weR Gold closed June 30, you may still support students with your gift by visiting the Rensselaer Giving website.
“DBF provides students from a variety of backgrounds with hands-on experience in aircraft design. Every member comes away from the experience better equipped to thrive in environments where interdisciplinary teamwork and creative problem-solving are necessary.” – Kenneth Varghese '17
The Mission
Our mission is to score in the top 10 at the 2022-2023 AIAA Competition!
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) competition mission requirements and criteria are unique every year. This year’s challenge is based upon electronic warfare. The objective is to design, build, and test an aircraft to fulfill the mission requirements and criteria.
The aircraft was given design specifications to limit size. All the components of the aircraft must fit inside a checked airline package not exceeding 50 pounds. The checked package must also have a maximum of 62 inches of overall perimeter (length+width+height of the package). We will need to construct two sets of wings. During the competition before flight, AIAA officials will determine which wings will be used to fly with a coin toss. Lastly, the wingspan of the aircraft must make up 80% of the overall length of it.
The first mission begins with the aircraft completing the flight course without payload. It must take off within 60 feet and complete three laps within a five-minute window. To count as a successful flight, the aircraft must land successfully.
The second mission includes holding an electronics package sized 3 x 3 x 6 inches. The entirety of the electronics package must fit inside the fuselage. This is added on top of the first mission requirements.
The last mission involves flying with a jamming antenna at a wing tip. The teams will need to provide the materials for the jamming antenna and electronics package. The teams will be allowed to add a counterweight or balance to the other wing tip. For a successful mission three flight, the requirements from mission one must also be fulfilled.
What You're Supporting
A donation goes towards gathering materials to build the plane for annual competition.
We are representing RPI in a national competition sponsored by Raytheon Technologies and Cessna, and competing with universities around the world. You can help us put Rensselaer on the map as a university that develops top-tier engineers.
We need to raise $400 in order to gather materials to construct this year’s competition plane.
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Design/Build/Fly Team is a student-run club founded at Rensselaer in 2006. Team members rely on their own engineering intellect and available resources to solve technical problems throughout their product development projects.
In its history, the team has graduated engineers prepared to tackle the most difficult problems in both industry and academia. Donating to Design/Build/Fly will ensure the team can continue to grow and produce leaders in the aerospace field. For more information, check out our website!
