The 2011-2012 Design Build Fly season has begun! Please continue reading for more information about this year's competition!
The Virginia Tech Design Build Fly Team is an all-volunteer student organization at Virginia Tech. The VT chapter of AIAA serves as our parent organization since the competition is sponsored by AIAA. Every year we construct a new radio controlled aircraft to complete a given set of missions, which are usually posted in late August with the competition occuring in mid-April. The competition location alternates annually between Wichita, KS and Tucson, AZ. This year's competition will be held in Kansas from April 13-15.
2011 DBF Team
The experience of designing and building an aircraft from scratch is one that cannot be matched by any classroom experience. It takes what we spend months learning from the books and applies it to the real world. The end result is a plane that flies well and achieves the mission requirements.
Over the years the VT DBF team has consistently placed in the top half of the competition field and has even had a few top 5 finishes. We are pursuing many new ideas and applying everything we have learned from previous years to help propel us to a first place finish at this year's competition.
The team consists primarily of engineering students with interests in aircraft and design experience in general. No prior skills or experience are really necessary and there are enough Faculty and previous members around to help you learn the ropes. All majors are encouraged to join as there's something for everybody to work on!
If you have an interest in any of this, or just want to come see what we're all about, please come to our general meetings on every other Wednesday at 7:30 PM in 1010 Togersen Hall or direct any questions you may have to one of the team leaders listed below.
VTDBF News has moved to a new location. Please follow the link below.
VTDBF News
The AIAA through the Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design, Design Engineering and Flight Test Technical Committees and the AIAA Foundation invites all university students to participate in the Cessna/ONR Student Design/Build/Fly Competition. The contest will provide a real-world aircraft design experience for engineering students by giving them the opportunity to validate their analytic studies.
Student teams will design, fabricate, and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio controlled aircraft that can best meet the specified mission profile. The goal is a balanced design possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.
To encourage innovation and maintain a fresh design challenge for each new year, the design requirements and performance objectives will be updated for each new contest year. The changes will provide new design requirements and opportunities, while allowing for application of technology developed by the teams from prior years.
Cash prizes are $2500 for 1st, $1500 for 2nd and $1000 for 3rd place. The winning teams will be invited to present their designs at the AIAA Flight Test & Evaluation conference.
Rules for the Competition - This page presents the rules for this year's Design Build Fly competition
| Trey Michaelis | Program Manager | grmiii@vt.edu |
| Sam Tutko | Chief Engineer | sjtutko@vt.edu |
| Drew Ohnigian | Aerodynamics | dohnig@vt.edu |
| Connor Shirley | Aerodynamics | connor.shirley@vt.edu |
| Patrick Malinowski | Controls | pcm1217@vt.edu |
| Chris Welsh | Controls | welshc11@vt.edu |
| Scott Belcourt | Propulsion | belcourt@vt.edu |
| Scott Corder | Propulsion | scott64@vt.edu |
| Chris Scott | Structures | cscott08@vt.edu |
| Mike Yankashas | Structures | yankask@vt.edu |
| Duff Roberson | Systems | drobe07@vt.edu |
| Chris Snider | Systems | snido@vt.edu |
This year's photographs (password required) can be found at:
The VTDBF Gallery
Photos from previous years (public access) can be found at:
Previous Year Pictures.
Really, really old pictures (public access) can be found at:
Ancient Pictures.
To obtain a username and password, please email the Gallery Administrator.
2012 Sponsors
2012 Sponsors
Virginia Tech Ware Lab
Please Donate.
Previous Sponsors
Financial Need
Virginia Tech DBF is an all-volunteer, extracurricular design team. As such, we are almost entirely funded by fundraisers and commercial donations. Last year’s operating expenses totaled $9000. Due to various factors, including a greater use of composite materials, our estimated expenses for this year are around $12000. For this reason, the VT DBF Team requests your donation. All funding is a tax-deductible 501(c)3 donation. We also accept donations of materials and tools. Any assistance will greatly help the timely and optimized design of our aircraft.Donating
As a sponsor, Virginia Tech DBF will recognize your company in a number of ways. We will include your company in any written information including our presentation board which is displayed at engineering open houses, posted outside our lab, and taken to competition. Your company will also be added to the sponsor list on our webpage and we will place a copy of your company’s logo* on the final plane flown at competition and on our team t-shirts.This competition is highly documented in aerospace and model aircraft publications, including Model Airplane News and Model Aviation (official AMA publication), and teams from around the world will be in attendance, anxious not only to compete, but to peruse the competing aircraft. We will also be sure to include your company on our team website and any publications we produce for the competition.
* Should you choose to accept our proposal, please send a copy of your logo for use on our aircraft to the address listed below.
Please send donations to:
Virginia Tech Foundation/AOE Dept
215 Randolph, Mail Code 0203
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Make checks payable to the Virginia Tech Foundation, with ‘VTDBF Team’ labeled in the memo line of the check. In order to ensure that your donation is noted and received please send an email to our Treasurer with the date, amount of your donation, and an address where we can send correspondence to keep you updated about the team's progress.
Offical Design Build Fly Site - This is the official site for the design build fly competition.
Rules for the Competition - This page presents the rules for this year's Design Build Fly competition
Competition FAQ's - A frequently asked questions page regarding interpretation of competition rules
AOE Department at Virginia Tech
TerraBreak.Org An independent DBF site featuring forums, pictures, and previous year's results
Virginia Tech - Virginia Tech's Homepage
Virginia Tech AIAA - Virginia Tech's American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Chapter
VT Student Engineer's Council (SEC)
If you have any questions or comments contact our webmaster.