From April 6th to 10th, Beihang Goertek Aeromodelling Team competed with 75 teams from 11 countries like the United States, Canada, Egypt, Poland, etc. in advanced class of 2018 SAE Aero Design West at Los Angles, USA. In Flight Performance, Oral Presentation and Written Design Report of the competition, Beihang won the first, second and third place respectively. With a total score of 486.8, Beihang ranked first in the Advanced Class of SAE, creating the best score worldwide in 2018 and breaking the world record of the event again.
The aeromodelling team began preparing for the competition last September. They overcame technical difficulties, innovated in the technique plan and made more than 50 flights. By continuous adjustments, perfect cooperation was achieved among the aircraft system design, structural design, power system, electronic system and many other aspects of the model.
In the rounds of Oral Presentation and Written Design Report, the aircraft designed by the team was highly praised by the judges from top international companies for the aviation design on its combination of two engines, mission payload, wings with a high aspect ratio, making with high-strength composites and complete electronic system design. Due to its eminent loading capacity and accurate automatic delivery ability, it won the champion in the following flight round with 40 hits in the target.
Beihang Goertek Aeromodelling Team was founded in 1952. After more than 60 years of development, it has formed perfect mechanisms for member selection, competition preparation and academic achievement transformation. It has become one of the most significant platforms to cultivate innovative talents. Its members took part in various competitions like the Challenge Cup and “Internet +” Competition for many times, achieving excellent results. Additionally, the team started to join in international competitions in 2012, and won the championship in all levels of world competitions, including SAE Aero Design Competition, Air Cargo Challenge (ACC), BMFA Aircraft Design Competition and so on. Communicating with international universities and top aircraft designers from the world, the team has built confidence in its specialty, the university and the country.
SAE Aero Design Competition is held by SAE International and sponsored by aviation giants like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Dasso and ANSYS, to name a few. It aims to provide a platform for students to put their theoretical knowledge into practice in the process of conceiving, designing, making, testing, and perfecting a radio-controlled aircraft which meets mission requirements, and to improve their engineering writing and communication skills in the design report and the oral presentation rounds of the competition.
Reported by Liu Yang
Edited by Shi Yue
Translated by Zhao Yue
