UA Soars High in SAE Aero Design Competition

Akron, Ohio, June 30, 2004 — The University of Akron's aero design team returned to the top spot in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Competition with a first-place Open Class win in the 2004 event held June 18-20 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Since 1995, SAE has sponsored 40 aero design contests, of which The University of Akron has garnered 14 first-place awards. The University's previous first-place finish was in Regular Class of the 2002 Aero Design West Competition.

The goal of aero design competition is to build a radio-controlled aircraft that lifts the most weight and fulfills certain design criteria. Points are given for design and flight. Planes in Open Class are of unlimited size but restricted to two engines.

Sporting a 15-foot wingspan and weighing about 14 pounds, The University of Akron's Open Class plane won the competition on its last flight, edging a team from The University of Missouri-Rolla 165.76 points to 162.03 points.

Open Class team members traveling to Fort Worth were Alan Jennings of Cuyahoga Falls, Bryan Czapor of North Royalton and Matt King of Uniontown. Other team members include team captain Sam Cooke of Hartville, Shauna Mintz of Solon, Jon Hendrix of Independence, Brian Porto of East Palestine and Chris Feyerchak of Cleveland. Jennings was honored for delivering the best oral presentation among the 44 Open and Regular Class teams registered for the event.

The University of Akron also entered the Regular Class Competition, with planes restricted to a single, standard engine and wings with a minimum span of 10 feet. UA's plane lifted weight well, but due to some control issues, pilot Mark Lazor, a 1996 University of Akron mechanical engineering graduate from Cuyahoga Falls, purposefully crashed the aircraft to prevent it from flying over spectator areas. Although disappointing, the crash was spectacular and received the Best Crash plaque of the entire competition.

Students traveling to the competition were team captain Holly Pero of Hiram, Josh Rast of Stow, Ann Marie Miller of Uniontown and Tyler Schnug of Mansfield. Other team members included Steve Gill of Orrville, Rich Carpino of Magnolia and Walter Kiefer of Rocky River.

Dr. Jerry Drummond of Tallmadge, associate professor of mechanical engineering and team faculty adviser, says both teams should be very proud of their accomplishments in designing the planes.

"In April, we had a disastrous competition at Aero Design East in DeLand, Fla., when both planes crashed badly during qualification flights,” says Drummond. “The only bright spot was Sam Cooke receiving an award for the best oral presentation in the Open Class. Both teams basically designed and rebuilt their planes in eight weeks, and that is quite a job.

“Members of our teams are very early in their college careers, the oldest being a third-year student. They all have at least two years left to compete, and they will do well in the future."

The two aero design teams are comprosed primarily of students in UA's mechanical engineering program. The exceptions are Gill (civil engineering) and Feyerchak (electrical and computer engineering).

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