October 6, 2009
Contact: Amy Hewes
805-756-6402
ahewes@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly Team Takes Silver in International
Aircraft Design Competition
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Student aircraft designers from Cal Poly continued to soar at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) annual Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition. The team took second place in the competition, which drew 22 international entries.
Cal Poly’s Hummingbird Aeronautics won the silver for its design of the Tersus, a 150-seat “environmentally compatible” transport aircraft.
“There were 22 entrants from 10 universities, including some international schools, this year, and that made for a very, very tight competition,” said Robert McDonald, Cal Poly’s faculty adviser. “Once again, we’re very proud of our team’s strong effort.”
Hummingbird Aviation, which included aerospace engineering students Ashley Evans, Kevin Lovell, Marko Pavlov, Jason Stavro and Jonathon Wilson, received a $1,500 prize from the AIAA Foundation for their second-place design. Virginia Polytechnic University won $2,500 for first prize, and Georgia Institute of Technology received a $1,000 award for finishing third.
The AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession and includes more than 35,000 individual members and 90 corporate members worldwide. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.
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