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RELEASE NO: 00-060
NASA and FAA announce design competition winners
Oshkosh,
Wis. NASA and the FAA today recognized teams of
university students for their innovative designs by announcing the
winners of the 1999-2000 National General Aviation Design
Competition.  Five awards to winning university teams
were presented at a ceremony held at AirVenture 2000, the
Experimental Aircraft Association's Annual Convention and Fly-In at
Oshkosh, Wis.
Now in its sixth year, the
competition calls for individuals or teams of undergraduate and
graduate students from U.S. engineering schools to participate in a
major national effort to rebuild the U.S. general aviation
sector. For the purpose of the contest, general aviation
aircraft are defined as single or twin engine (turbine or piston),
single-pilot, fixed-wing aircraft for 2 - 6
passengers. The competition seeks to raise student
awareness of the importance of general aviation by having the
student address design challenges for a small aircraft
transportation system. NASA and the FAA hope to
stimulate breakthroughs in technology and their application in the
general aviation marketplace.
In addition to cash prizes, the
teams also have the opportunity to present NASA Technical Forums at
AirVenture.
 The first place
award was presented to a 28-student team from Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, Va. and its collaborating partner -- Loughborough
University, Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The award
provides a total of $3,000 to Virginia Tech's design team members
and a $5,000 award to Virginia Tech's Department of Aerospace and
Ocean Engineering.
The team, which dubbed its design
Pegasus, undertook the challenge of designing an aircraft that
would be "roadable" -- capable of both ground and air
travel. The ability to switch from aircraft to car-like
operation allows such a vehicle to effectively utilize small
airports, while offering true door-to-door service. The
team recognized that the cost to actually produce such an aircraft
would exceed today's typical general aviation aircraft cost;
however, the students believed the additional cost should readily
be offset by the convenience of not having to have a car for ground
transportation.
Designing an air/ground vehicle
presented unique problems. The students recognized that
design tradeoffs were needed in order to obtain good performance in
the air and adequate performance on the road, since road use was
anticipated to be occasional. The team had to meet
safety and operational regulations for both aircraft and
automobiles. For one thing, the wing had to be folded, retracted or
otherwise stored for road use. The need for a large wing
area for flight, a small span for highway use, and low lift in car
mode was addressed by the use of a telescoping wing.
Dr. James Marchman, Virginia Tech
and Dr. Gary Page, Loughborough University, were the team's faculty
advisors. Financial support from Virginia Tech's College
of Engineering and The Boeing Company permitted the inclusion of
students from Loughborough University, a major British research
institution, as international collaborators in the
design. The faculty advisors and student team members
found that the international and interdisciplinary team design
approach added great value to the educational experience and
mirrored the kind of international partnerships typical in today's
global marketplace.
 Second place
honors went to a seven-student team from Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN, for the Silairus 490, a six-passenger,
high-performance piston engine aircraft with an Air Cushion Landing
System (ACLS) in lieu of traditional landing gear. The
design offers the capability of surface independent takeoff and
landing, permitting the vehicle to access off-airways communities
thus shortening door-to-door travel time. The Silairus
490 features a high-tech, electronically data-linked cockpit with a
comfortable cabin that is adaptable for many client
applications. Dr. William A. Crossley was the faculty
advisor. The second place award provides a $2000 prize
to the student team.
The Purdue team also won the
Best Use of Air-Force-Developed Technology award for its
incorporation of the ACLS developed by the United States Air
Force. For this award, the team will share a $3,000
prize from the Air Force.
 Third place was
awarded to Pennsylvania State University, University Park,
Pa. The team's design, called Alnighter, is a modern,
composite general aviation aircraft. The six-place,
single-engine, propeller-driven vehicle has a conventional
layout. It features sophisticated aerodynamics and
advanced systems and avionics. The team's faculty
advisor was Dr. Barnes McCormick. For third place, the
ten-student team will share a $1,000 prize. Penn State
has the distinction of winning a place award in each year of the
competition.
 The
Best Retrofit Design Award was presented to a four-student,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla., team for development of an
innovative, multi-mode tuned exhaust system that offers noise
reduction while improving the airplane's
performance. The design was undertaken as a part of a
larger aircraft design project to show how older aircraft can be
retrofitted with more modern technologies for increased performance
and safety. The work was done under the supervision of
Dr. Karl Bergey, the student's faculty advisor. A $500
award was presented to the student team by the award's sponsor --
the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) Air Safety
Foundation.
The competition is managed for
NASA and the FAA by the Virginia Space Grant
Consortium. Guidelines will soon be available for the
seventh annual competition to be held during the 2000-2001 academic
year. Individual or team submissions as well as designs
ranging from components and subsystems to complete aircraft designs
are encouraged. Guidelines can be requested at
757/865-0726 or
msandy@odu.edu.
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Note: Electronic images to illustrate this story are available
by contacting Keith Henry at
h.k.henry@larc.nasa.gov.
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