Khalifa University of Science and Technology today announced that a team of 12 Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering students ranked ninth overall out of 104 universities in the Design Build Fly, DBF, 2019 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, AIAA, Competition in Tucson, Arizona, US.

The team designed and developed an unmanned, electric-powered, radio-controlled aircraft that successfully completed all three mandatory missions at the international competition in which participants included some of the top universities in the world.

This is also Khalifa University’s eighth successive year of participation in the DBF challenge, an annual event sponsored this year by the AIAA, Cessna Aircraft Company and Raytheon Missile Systems.

The aircraft had to successfully complete three missions – a flight over a predefined 2000-foot path, carrying a rotating ‘radome’ as a payload, perform three laps followed by a successful landing, and carrying of at least four attack stores each weighing around 0.187 pounds and drop one in every lap. The DBF mission this year was also tough because of the design requirement for folding wings, and its size and operation.

Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President of Khalifa University, said, "Congratulations to the student team that has achieved a remarkable position overall in the Design Build Fly 2019 AIAA Competition, thus demonstrating the extent of faculty expertise at Khalifa University who have painstakingly taken efforts to provide the students with what they required. We believe this success will motivate and encourage students towards further excellence and reaching high positions in different regional and global competitions."

This year, the faculty advisors included Assistant Professor Dr. Andreas Schiffer from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Assistant Professor Dr. Ki Sun Park from the Department of Aerospace Engineering. Additionally, the team was supported and advised by two graduate students – Adnan Salem and Abdelnasir Alnaqbi.

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