Design/Build/Fly

Design/Build/Fly is a radio-controlled aircraft competition sponsored by the American institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Cessna Aircraft Company, and Raytheon Missile Systems. The Office of Naval Research was also a sponsor until 2006. The competition is intended to challenge the AIAA student branches of each university to design, build, and fly a remote controlled airplane that can complete specific ground and flight missions. Additionally, the teams are required to submit a comprehensive design report detailing the most important aspects of their designs.

The competition rules and missions change every year. Usually, the teams must be and design to fly two missions in the competition fly-off, which is held towards the end of April, and also maintain a low Rated Aircraft Cost, a variable used to define the complexity of the design.

Different universities take different approaches at the competition. in most cases, the teams are composed of a mix of seniors and underclassmen doing DBF as an extracurricular activity. However, some universities use DBF for senior design projects and have teams of 15-25 people entirely made out of seniors. In general, historical results show that having more seniors in a team leads to a better final position at the competition.

External links

* [http://www.aiaadbf.org/ Home page]