KU engineering students prepare biplane for national flight contest

LAWRENCE -- Engineering students from the University of Kansas took first place in the AeroDesign East competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, May 2 through 4 in Dayton, Ohio. The competition is among the premier national student design contests in aerospace engineering and requires engineering students to design, build and fly a radio-controlled aircraft that can carry a large amount of weight for the plane's size.

Several factors are considered in scoring the event. Students must present technical information, meet deadlines, make technical presentations and successfully fly their plane. The students may increase their scores by carrying out successive flights with additional weight. The KU plane, "Mothra," a bright blue and yellow biplane with a 6-foot wingspan, carried 24.3 pounds.

"What differentiated us from everyone else was that we were at least tied for the largest wing area," said Carl Johnson, a senior in aerospace engineering from Baldwin City.

Wing area is critical to performance in this competition. The KU plane was the only biplane in the top four. Most of the monoplanes in the competition were "maxed out" on payload, Johnson said. "We could have carried more. We had the best design there. That's what all our analysis said: Big wings make the difference."

The KU team led scoring during the competition; however, a fly-off was held for the teams in first through fourth place. The KU plane crashed on its final takeoff, detaching the nose of the airplane. Despite the confidence the team members shared about their design, they didn't know for sure they had won until the placings were announced at the awards ceremony shortly after the final score tabulation.

Team members received a check for $1,000, a plaque and the traveling trophy, which has been outside the United States for the past four years.

After the team repairs its airplane, members plan to reprise their performance at the SAE AeroDesign West competition June 6 through 8 in Palmdale, Calif. Several of the seniors on the team will be at KU during the summer months to finish research projects, making possible the trip to the West Coast.

"We're going for the clean sweep," Johnson said.

KU team members, year and major in school, parents' names and high school alma mater are:

ALLEN COUNTY
From Iola
Justin Ohmie, freshman in aerospace engineering, son of James and Dorene Ohmie; Iola High School graduate.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Baldwin City
Carl Johnson, senior in aerospace engineering, son of Terry Johnson; Baldwin High School graduate; team captain.
Logan Johnson, freshman in aerospace engineering, son of Terry and Suzanne Johnson.

From Lawrence
Ganendra Selvaraj, senior in aerospace engineering, son of Ganendra Selvaraj.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Olathe
William S. Donovan, junior in aerospace engineering, son of Bill and Coleen Donovan; Osawatomie High School graduate.

RENO COUNTY
From Buhler
Corey Fenwick, junior in aerospace engineering, son of Ron and Marsha Fenwick; Buhler High School graduate.

ARKANSAS
From Little Rock
Todd White, junior in aerospace engineering, son of Thomas and Beth White; North Little Rock High School - West graduate.

MISSOURI
From Kansas City
Jessica Landes, senior in aerospace engineering, daughter of Paul Landes; Lincoln College Prep graduate.

From Oak Grove
Megan MacDonald, junior in aerospace engineering, daughter of Kent and Karen Minton; Truman High School graduate.

NEBRASKA
From Omaha
Lance Holly, senior in aerospace engineering, son of Norman and Beth Holly; Omaha High School graduate; pilot.

Team members who traveled to Dayton are Carl Johnson, Landes, Holly, Selvaraj and Donovan.

For more information go to www.sae.org/students/aeroeast.htm.