Dayton Engineer
University of Dayton Hosts International Flight Competition
By Adrienne Zandvoort '19 and Natalie O'Brien '19
Aspiring aerospace engineers from around the world competed in the seventh annual It Flies! competition on April 14 using the MP521 flight simulator in Kettering Labs.
Competing participants traveled from the The University of Manchester, The University of South Wales, and Mississippi State University and attended the University of Dayton to present and have their aircraft designs flown and assessed.
Dean of the School of Engineering Eddy Rojas welcomed student participants, their accompanying faculty, and the local test pilots and presentation judges to the competition. He recognized this event as a unique opportunity for students to demonstrate their abilities to qualified professionals.
“You will appreciate how much this competition will give you an advantage in the workplace,” Rojas said. “It Flies! has been a great partnership for us and is something we are proud of.”
This year, there were nine entries into the competition, the most ever for the event. First, students and teams presented their designs to the judges who evaluated each presentation. An open discussion for commentary and questions came after each presentation. The test pilots then flew the aircraft designs in Dayton’s flight simulator. Each simulation was broadcast to the presentation room where other teams observed their competitor’s designs.
Marion Neal, marketing director of Merlin Flight Simulator Group, plays an instrumental role in organizing the competition. This international event brings students from the United States and United Kingdom together, so they can be exposed to different learning environments within aerospace engineering.
Aaron Altman, professor and director of the graduate aerospace program, first had the idea to bring a flight simulator to the University of Dayton School of Engineering and worked with the Merlin Flight Simulator Group to install an MP521 simulator, which is unique in the marketplace. Rather than simulating a specific airplane type, Merlin’s simulators are specific to the academic sector and can fly whatever design is input into the system. The installation sparked Neal’s idea of an international flight simulator competition based on It Flies! UK, which she had been running for 10 years.
“With the Wright Patterson Air Force Base so close, we are very lucky to have many test pilots and flight test engineers to do the judging of the competition here,” said Neal.
Altman is also the faculty adviser for the It Flies! Club at UD. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in aircraft design or flight simulation are encouraged to join.
“I think it is highly beneficial for students to see how others go about designing their aircraft,” said Altman. “Everyone learns quite a bit from this experience.”
Test pilots Brad Fairfax, Gary Konnert and Frank Delsing judged the aircraft and later awarded sophomore mechanical and aerospace engineering student, Will Cammack, the Best Flying Aircraft award for his KC 135 design. The Most Innovative Design award went to Oliver Williams, Jason Hitchman and Matthew Uren from The University of Manchester for their design of a flying car.
For more information about the It Flies! Club, please email itfliesud@gmail.com. To learn more about upcoming flight simulator competitions, visit www.merlinsim.com.
