The 2011 Experience

The 2011 SkyHawks team

The SkyHawks represented the university at SAE Aero Design West 2011, held at Ft. Worth TX, USA. The team was the first from the state of Uttarakhand to take part in this prestigious event. Last year's edition of the competition was organized by SAE with the assistance of Lockheed Martin Corporation and Gulfstream Aerospace. The team comprised of six members, namely Mukul Tandon (captain), Pranav Nagpal, Adithya Kothandhapani, Sagar Shah, Sreetej Lakkam and Udit Shah, all students of B. Tech Aerospace Engineering. Mr. Vijay Kumar Patidar (Asst. Professor) was the team's faculty advisor.


The team took part in the REGULAR class of competition which has  the following problem statement (in brief):

"Design and fabricate a remote-controlled aircraft that is powered by an OS 61FX engine, weighs less that 55 lb (inclusive of payload & fuel) and has sum of dimensions, i.e. L+B+H < 225 inches. The aircraft should not consist of composite materials and lead in any structural member."

The team was partially sponsored by the university and it's patron organizations, namely Dassault Systemes (who sponsored the SolidWorks software) and Mr. Vikram Golecha (of Associated Soapstone Distributing Company Private Limited).

The performance in retrospect:

The team's aircraft christened 'The SkyHawk' was a tandem winged UAV, powered by the competition specified OS 61FX 2-stroke piston engine. The design and fabrication efforts expended on the aircraft were one-of-a-kind as the configuration posed a variety of challenges that an aircraft designer normally doesn't encounter. For the unique design and manufacturing process followed, the team was ranked 1st among Asian teams and 5th internationally.

A turn-around repair in progress

Of the 9 rounds that eventually took place on March 19 and 20, the SkyHawk flew successfully in four rounds, thus achieving an operational availability of 44.44%. During the course of the two days, the team's aircraft lifted a payload of 15.96 lb, which along with the aircraft (empty) weight comes up to nearly 24 lb (~11 kg). For this, the team stood 3rd among all Asian teams and 12th internationally.

The clinching high point of the team's participation though, was that the aircraft had the least sum of dimensions among all other competing aircraft in the same class, while still lifting a competitive payload on it's debut entry into the SAE Aero Design competition. The team can only move ahead with this foundation and the gained experience.

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