The SkyHawk Design: Engineering in Tandem

Now, after the danger of design piracy has passed, and the hectic report submission phase is done and dusted, we unveil our plane through the web! The team's motto ' Engineering in Tandem', quite literally taken means engineering done one-behind-the-other. Applied to aircrafts, the one point that may hit home is the tandem configuration, i.e. two full sized aircraft wings.

Illustrated to the left is the team's computer-generated aircraft model. Actual photographs may not be uploaded till after the competition, due to possible misuses.

The plane has undergone successful flight trials with and without payload,giving a lot of promise for a more-than-decent show at Aero Design West 2011 at Fort Worth, Texas.

Thanks go out to our university for supporting us so far.

Status Update

With preparation in full swing for the Aero Design Competition, the member of SkyHawks started their flight practice on one of the earlier models fabricated by the aero-modelling club.

The team is also planning to put up an air show with their model in February, 2011 for the annual Aerospace Department Fest. They will be accompanied by other r/c pilots from the region, who will be participating in the various competitions to be held during the fest.

*

The Point of all This

Being students of Aerospace Engineering in India, few design challenges come by to tickle the intellect. The SAE Aero Design Series gives a fair opportunity to pick and choose our own configuration, as long as the model aircraft can take-off and land comfortably without compromising on it's load-carrying capability.

The SkyHawks, though the first Aero Design team from the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, consists of students who have been involved in fabrication of various model airplanes, ranging from control-line to remote controlled models and gliders to powered aircraft. As part of the SAE collegiate chapter, various other activities including the SAE Baja and Formula SAE take place. Students are chosen by virtue of their skill, competence and level of expertise in the several realms of engineering required to excel in the SAE CDS events.

As someone said, "Success lies with those who don't fear failure", we have broken numerous models even on the first flight; but analyzed the defects. When repaired and modified, the model's next flight never disappointed us..

-**-